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Filipina asylum seeker jailed for stealing 2 bottles of perfume

Posted on 01 November 2019 No comments

A Filipina asylum-seeker with two previous convictions for theft has been sentenced by an Eastern Court magistrate to four weeks in jail for stealing two bottles of perfume from a shop in Causeway Bay.

Prosecution says defendant can't be remorseful if she has two prior convictions for the same offense

Former domestic helper Loida Figueroa who was on recognizance, pleaded guilty to theft before Magistrate Bina Chainrai on Thursday, Oct 31.

The day before, the 44-year-old defendant who worked as a domestic helper from 2009 to 2011, was arrested by police at a SaSa shop in Leighton Centre, Causeway Bay, after the security alarm at the store sounded as she tried to leave without paying.

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The two bottles of scent worth $966 were found in her bag by staff at the store, who immediately called the police.

During questioning by the police, Figueroa admitted stealing the perfume for herself.

In mitigation, Figueroa’s counsel from the Duty Lawyer Service said the defendant was a recognizance holder, jobless and had no permanent address.

He said his client was remorseful but the prosecutor pointed out that Figueroa had two prior theft convictions.

The magistrate said she took the defendant’s criminal record into consideration in coming up with the sentence. – Vir B. Lumicao

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Pinoy driver charged with theft for taking Legco member’s banner

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Au Nok-hin

A 49-year-old Filipino driver has been charged with theft in Eastern Court for taking a tarpaulin banner belonging to Legislative Council member Au Nok-hin outside a church in Aberdeen.

Au is the current Legco member for Hong Kong Island.

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The charge sheet says that on Sept 13, Joseph Catedrilla untied Au’s banner that was hanging on the fence of St Peter’s church in Aberdeen, then took it to his employer’s home in Bel Air estate to use as a cover for the car that he drives.

No plea was taken from Catedrilla when he appeared before Magistrate Bina Chainrai on Oct 31 as the prosecution asked for more time to investigate the case.

The magistrate adjourned the case to Nov. 14 and extended Catedrilla’s bail. – Vir B. Lumicao

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Filipino maid in online sex booking gets 10-month jail sentence

Posted on 30 October 2019 No comments

Charges vs. Gallego's co-helper and their employer are pending in District Court

A domestic worker has been sentenced in District Court to 10 months in jail after admitting that she conspired with another Filipina helper and their female employer to live on the earnings of prostitutes.

Jeanette V. Gallego, a 47-year-old mother of two, was sentenced by Judge David Dufton after taking her plea on Oct 29.

Gallego’s Legal Aid lawyer told her after the sentencing that she would serve her jail term for just one or two months more on good behavior and holidays, as she had already been held for eight months before she was granted bail in January.

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Her co-helper Jo-an Palpal-latoc, 44, and their employer Heidi Wong Pui-ting, 69, who allegedly owned the online sex booking business that earned $31.5 million over a period of nine years, will appear in District Court again on Nov 28.

Palpal-latoc’s counsel, Mohammed Shah, told the court on Sept 26 that his client would also plead guilty to the conspiracy charge but not to a money-laundering charge against her and Wong. Money earned from the operation was traced to two bank accounts they allegedly controlled.

Dufton accepted the defense lawyer’s assertion that Gallego played only a minor role in the illegal operation that Wong ran in flat on the plush Tavistock II residential tower on Tregunter Path. Wong hired Gallego as her maid on Dec 13, 2010.

For nine years, Gallego’s role was to answer calls and email messages from foreign clients, record their names and nationalities, contact the prostitutes and direct them to hotels where the clients stay.

For her role, she received $1,500 a month in addition to her normal salary as helper.

The prosecutor told Dufton that two Hong Kong police officers who posed as foreign clients separately contacted the dating website operated by Wong in April last year and booked sex services in separate hotels on certain dates.

On Apr 15, 2018, one officer was supplied a prostitute for $10,800 while another for $6,800, with both paying by credit cards.

Police raided Wong’s flat on May 5 last year and arrested Wong, Palpal-latoc and Gallego, as well as Wong's elder sister and a male relative.

The latter two were later released without charge while Wong was charged separately from the Filipinas.

Their cases were consolidated in February, and the money laundering charge was added against Wong and Palpal-latoc.

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HK-based workers urge Duterte to press Indonesia on Veloso case

Posted on 28 October 2019 No comments

The protesters are confident Veloso will be acquitted if she's allowed to tell her story in court

By Vir B. Lumicao

Filipino workers in Hong Kong have asked President Rodrigo Duterte to pressure Indonesia to let Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on death row in Yogyakarta for drug trafficking, give evidence so she can tell the truth and gain freedom.

The workers, representing various groups such as United Filipinos-Migrante in Hong Kong and Gabriela HK, held a short rally at the Consulate on Monday, Oct 28, to ask the Philippine government to save the life of Veloso.

Veloso has claimed that her recruiters, Maria Cristina P. Sergio and Julius L. Lacanilao, tricked her into smuggling 2.5 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia, an offense for which she was found guilty and sentenced to death.

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She was scheduled to face a firing squad on April 29, 2015 but was given a last-minute reprieve after Sergio and Lacanilao surrendered to Philippine police.

On Oct 11, the Philippine Supreme Court allowed Veloso to testify against Sergio and Lacanilao by way of a deposition in Indonesia. However, Nueva Ecija’s Regional Trial Court has yet to heed the highest court’s ruling.

Monday’s rally coincided with the RTC’s move to give prosecutors a final chance to call their last witness in the human trafficking and estafa cases versus Sergio and Lacanilao. The trial’s outcome will determine whether Veloso will be exonerated or shot.

Unifil chair Dolores Balladares-Pelaez said the rally was part of a global mass action to appeal to both Duterte and Indonesian President Jokowi to allow Veloso’s deposition as evidence in her human trafficking case in Nueva Ecija and drug case in Yogyakarta.

“Nakapagtataka na hanggang ngayon, kahit umamin na ang kanyang mga human traffickers ay hindi pa binibigyan si Mary Jane ng pagkakataon na magsalita bilang witness sa kanyang sariling kaso,” said Pelaez.

She said that the case is crucial to Veloso, to her family and to all OFWs because if she does not get acquitted, it would show that any migrant worker can be accused, convicted and sentenced to death even if she is not guilty.

Gabriela chairperson Sheila Tebia said each day that Veloso remains in jail on reprieve, her life is still in danger.

“Ayaw natin na sa makabagong panahon ay magkakaroon muli tayo ng isang Flor Contemplacion,” she said.

“Marami pa pong mga kaso ng death penalty (ng mga Pilipino) na nasa iba’t ibang bansa. Marami pang pamilya ang umaasa na pauwiiin at agad matugunan ang kaso ni Mary Jane Veloso,” Tebia said.

Contemplacion, also an OFW, was hanged by Singapore on Mar 17, 1995 for the murders of fellow helper Delia Maga and her 4-year-old ward Nicholas Huang, despite pleas for her life by the President Fidel V. Ramos.

Rev. Joram Calimutam urged the Philippine and Indonesian governments to let Veloso speak so that she can tell the truth about her case as, he said, “the truth will set her free.”

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