Elderly Pinay in fake US$50 million check case to stand trial

By Vir B. Lumicao

The elderly Filipina tourist accused of trying to cash a fake US$50 million check at Hang Seng Bank two years ago will face trial, after all.

This was after District Court Judge Ernest Lee decided on Nov. 20 to ignore an application to stay the trial on the ground that 76-year-old defendant Maria Ilao Gosilatar is in poor health.

Judge Lee set the trial for Jan 28 –Feb 1, adding an extra day to the original three-day hearing to allow the defense to make a stay application then.

Gosilatar, who is said to be suffering from a growing tumor in her brain, has been in police custody since Dec 9, 2016. 

She was arrested along with a local accountant while trying to cash the check at the Hang Seng Bank headquarters in Central, then charged with using a false instrument.

In the previous hearing on Nov 8, defense lawyers said they wanted the prosecution to consider halting the case against Gosilatar because of her poor health.

The trial was originally set for Oct 26-30, but had been postponed because the defense wanted to present a second medical report.

Shaun Kelly, for the defense, said at the latest hearing that his team had received the second medical report on Gosilatar from a Dr Mohamad.

Kelly asked for a break so he could confer with the prosecution about halting the trial, but Judge Lee said this could be done during the trial.

Gosilatar, who claimed to be the chairwoman of a Bulacan-based charity called Mama Mary 2000 International Foundation, had told the court that the check was donated to her charity by unidentified people.

Later on, she told the court she had received a report from Philippine police saying she was a victim of scammers. She did not elaborate.


Suportahan po natin ang ating mga sponsor:

Remains of Filipina killed in Tai Po road accident brought home

Teresita Hernandez

By Daisy CL Mandap

For more than 20 years, Teresita Agina Hernandez had worked as a domestic worker in Hong Kong, and seemed to have liked it so much that even after all her four children had finished university, she decided to stay on.

But fate had other plans for her, for at exactly 6:56 on Oct. 29, Teresita, 55, was declared dead at Prince of Wales Hospital in Shatin, eight hours after she was hit by a private car on Ting Kok Road in Tai Po.

Teresita’s remains were brought home on Nov. 19, accompanied by her eldest and only daughter Marites Laurel, who had flown to Hong Kong from Ghana where she works as an accountant.

They were met at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila by Teresita’s three sons: Marlon, Marvin and Mark, as well as her estranged husband. From there they proceeded to their Mindoro hometown, where Teresita is set to be buried on Saturday, Nov. 24.

According to Marites, Hong Kong police told her that they were still investigating the case. There were reportedly told that Teresita, who was hit at a pedestrian crossing, might have crossed while the traffic light was still red, but this has yet to be confirmed.

The scene of the accident in Taipo

But whatever the cause of the accident, Teresita’s family was told they could still apply for compensation under the Traffic Accident Victims Assistance (TAVA) scheme, run by the Social Welfare Department.

They have also been advised by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office to apply for legal aid so they could pursue a separate claim against the insurers of the car that hit Teresita.

However, they could not apply for employee compensation, as this can be collected only from an employer if the worker had died due to an accident while at work, or due to a work-related illness.

As Teresita was killed on a Sunday, and on the street near her boarding house, (and not at her workplace), her death could not be deemed as work-related.

Also, since she had been working for just over three years for her Korean employer, Lee Young-chun and his actress-wife Kathy, her family could not claim long service pay.

The Lees, Garcia and Laurel at the wake

Despite this, the Lees had reportedly been extra generous to their helper’s family. They accommodated Marites at their Tai Kok Tsui home while she was preparing for the repatriation of her mother’s remains, and gave her an allowance plus financial help.

The couple also reportedly bought a white casket for Teresita at Marites’ request, and after the wake at Universal Funeral Parlor in Hunghom on Nov. 18, treated all the about 100 mourners to lunch.

Back in the Philippines, the family could claim a total of Php220,000 from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration as payout for death caused by accident and funeral expenses.

Marites related that her mother had been working for just herself for the past several years, as she and her siblings had already finished their studies, and were all gainfully employed.

Apart from her, one of her brothers, Marlon, is also working abroad, as an engineer in Taiwan, making the family quite well off.

Their youngest, Mark, was the only one left at their home in Quezon City where Teresita would live while on holiday in the Philippines, as he was still single.

According to Teresita’s cousin Gemma Garcia, Teresita provided mostly for her brood while working abroad, but her husband, from whom she had separated in 2000, also pitched in.

From all accounts, it was a family that was just waiting for a beloved family member to come home for good, but tragedy intervened.

Suportahan po natin ang ating mga sponsor:

 Public Service: Wallet found at Worldwide House

A wallet belonging to a certain Victoria Santos, a Hong Kong permanent resident, was found on Saturday, Nov 17, at World-Wide House in Central by another Filipina.

The Coach wallet had no money in it, but had Santos’ Hong Kong ID card, Octopus and other cards when it was found by Evalinda Betonio, who promptly turned it over to the Wanchai Police Station on Arsenal Street.

Santos should be able to claim it back there.

Pregnant overstayer given suspended 7-week sentence

By Vir B. Lumicao

A pregnant Filipina former domestic helper who overstayed her visa for five months was sentenced by a Shatin magistrate on Nov 19 to seven weeks in jail, suspended for two years.

That meant that the defendant, Viola, who is seven months pregnant, was free to return home to the Philippines so she can deliver her baby there.

Shatin court

Viola, 32, appeared before Magistrate Wong Sze-lai and pleaded guilty to a charge of breaching her condition of stay.

She had surrendered herself to the Immigration Department in Kowloon Bay on Nov 7.

Outside the courtroom, the Filipina was overjoyed. “Sa wakas, makakauwi na rin ako,” she said.



She told The SUN that her baby’s father was a Filipino worker who she met in Hong Kong and had gone back home. She said the man was waiting for her and their baby. 



The court heard that the Filipina came to Hong Kong on a domestic worker visa on Nov 10 last year, but her contract ended prematurely and she was allowed to stay until June 7. She stayed here illegally after her visa expired.



In mitigation, Viola’s court-appointed lawyer said the Filipina’s employer terminated their contract because the family was moving to another country.                                                             


Viola tried but failed to find a new employer until her visa expired.

The lawyer pleaded for a lenient sentence, citing Viola’s surrender, and the fact that she’s already seven months pregnant.

Wong said that in consideration of the offender’s condition, she was imposing a suspended, instead of a custodial, sentence. 

Suportahan natin ang ating mga sponsor:

Fate of sick ‘lola’ in US$50M fake check case known soon

Prosecutors have indicated that there is a 50-50 chance that the case against a 76-year-old Filipina tourist who tried to cash a fake US$50 million check at Hang Seng Bank nearly two years ago will be dropped.

But the case may still go the other way for defendant Maria Ilao Gosilatar, who is being tried at the District Court, and has been in custody since Dec 9, 2016.

District Court.

Lawyers for Gosilatar who is on legal aid, told Judge C.P. Pang on Nov 8 they had been informed by the prosecution that it needs more time to consider whether to pursue the case because of the defendant’s poor health.

As a result, Pang adjourned the hearing until Nov 20, and ordered Gosilatar to remain in custody.



Gosilatar is suffering from a growing brain tumor, according to a medical report the defense presented to the court at the previous hearing on Oct 11.  Doctors who examined her reportedly said she has only two years to live.



But on application of the prosecution, Pang ordered a second medical examination of Pang. The defense was supposed to tell the court about the result of this second medical check, but nothing was mentioned about this at the hearing.



Gosilatar was arrested two years ago at the Hang Seng Bank headquarters on Des Voeux Road Central when she went there with a local accountant allegedly to try and cash the check.



The trial of Gosilatar was originally set for Oct 26, but was postponed to Jan 28-30 pending the second medical report. The upcoming hearing will determine whether she walks out free from prison, or tried on a charge of using a false instrument.

Gosilatar, allegedly the chairwoman of a Bulacan-based charity group named Mama Mary 2000 International Foundation, has told the court that she received a Philippine police report saying she was a victim of scammers. 

Suportahan natin ang ating mga sponsor:

New fake US$100 billion check caper

By Vir B. Lumicao

Another Filipino tourist is facing trial in District Court in Wanchai for allegedly presenting a fake check for US$100 billion in a Kowloon branch of Bank of China in November last year.

District Court in Wanchai.

Celerino L. Tinana appeared before Judge Eddie Yip on Nov 14 for the supposed start of his three-day trial for allegedly “using a false instrument” but the case was adjourned to Jan. 16 next year at the request of the prosecution.

The judge overruled the defence objection to the postponement, and extended Tinana’s bail.



Tinana, an elderly Ilocano, was arrested after he presented the check to a staff at the bank. Unknown to him, the police were alerted while he was waiting for the check to be verified.



Tinana became the latest in a growing number of Filipino tourists, many of them elderly, who have been arrested over the past two years on similar charges. Several have been convicted, three were acquitted, while the rest are still awaiting trial.



It is not clear whether the fake checks and other instruments came from the same source, or whether some or all of the accused, had known each other.



Just two days earlier, on Nov 12, Filipino-American woman Elena S. Orosa was sentenced to 30 months in jail by District Court Judge Charles Chan for trying to deposit a fake US$200 billion in a Hang Seng Bank branch in Tsimshatsui on Oct 18 last year.

Orosa was found guilty of a charge of “using a false instrument” after a three-day trial that began on Oct 10.

Another elderly tourist, Maria Ilao Gosilatar, will learn her fate at the next hearing of her case on Nov. 20 after prosecutors have indicated that there is a 50-50 chance that the case against her will be dropped.

Gosilatar, 76, has been in custody for nearly two years after she allegedly tried to cash  a fake US$50 million check at Hang Seng Bank.

Yet another elderly Filipino tourist, Brudencio Bolaños, will be tried on Jan 28-29 on a charge of “using a false instrument” for allegedly presenting a 35-year-old deposit slip for US$943 billion to HSBC headquarters in Central to update his account. He has been denied bail and is being held in Stanley Prison.

On Mar 4-6, Noel Rambuyon, 39, will be tried for allegedly attempting to cash US$50,000 worth of fake traveler’s checks at a money exchange in Central around the Lunar New Year this year.

He remains in custody and has not applied for bail.

Suportahan natin ang ating mga sponsor: