Pinay accused of theft allowed to post bail

Court allows bail to one Filipino, revokes  same from another for skipping his haring

A Filipina domestic helper who is facing a charge of theft in Eastern Court for allegedly stealing 1,700 renminbi ($1,943) in cash from her employer in December has been granted bail.

A. Berbana, 33, first appeared in court on Dec 24, two days after she was arrested by police for allegedly taking the money belonging to her employer Wong Man-nga.

On Jan 8, she returned to court and offered to post $6,000 bail and the prosecutor did not object, so Magistrate Peter Law granted the application.

The helper gave an address in Hunghom where she will stay while on bail. She was  ordered by Law to stay in that address and to report to the Hung Hom Police Station between 6pm and 9pm on Thursdays.

She was also told to show up at the next hearing of her case on Jan 21.

Meanwhile, Law ordered a Filipino male defendant in an assault case arrested and his bail confiscated after he failed to show up for the hearing of his case at the same court on the same day.

The defendant, Reiner Rios, is facing a charge of “inflicting grievous bodily harm” for allegedly attacking a South Asian male sometime last year in Li Yuen St West, popularly called “ale-ale” by Filipinos.

Earlier reports said Rios and another unidentified Filipino male were drinking in a pub in the alley when they got into a fight with the South Asian.

The two Filipinos allegedly beat up the victim with a hockey stick and a golf club. When officers arrived to break up the fight, the two Filipinos ran away. The police gave chase and caught up with Rios. - Vir B. Lumicao

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Pasko nabulilyaso dahil nahiyang magbakasyon

Magkasama sa bahay at naninilbihan sa mag-asawang Intsik na may tatlong anak ang magkapatid na sina Minerva at Melba.

Sampung araw bago sumapit ang Pasko ay kinausap si Melba ng kanyang among lalaki at tinanong kung gusto nilang magkapatid na magbakasyon.



Bibilhan daw sila nito ng tiket pauwi para makapag Pasko kapiling ng kanilang pamilya.

Ayon sa among lalaki, kapag sabay silang nagbakasyon ay mapipilitan ang asawa nito na sumama sa China.



Ayaw na ayaw kasi ng among babae na pumunta sa China at makihalubilo sa mga kamag-anak ng lalaki, at laging ang idinadahilan ay may dalawa silang kasambahay na maiiwan para magbantay sa mga bata.

Tuwang tuwa si Minerva dahil makakauwi sila ng sabay ng kanyang ate para mag Pasko kasama ang kanilang inang balo, at isa pang kapatid.



Ang kaso ay hindi ito natuloy dahil hindi pumayag si Melba sa gusto ng amo dahil nahihiya ito.

Napakamahal daw kasi ng tiket sa panahon ng kapaskuhan, at bago pa lamang sila sa kanilang mga amo.



Baka daw kasi isipin ng kanilang amo ay sinasamantala nila ang kabaitan nito, kahit pa ang ideya ay nagmula mismo dito.

Katatapos lang ni Minerva ng kanyang kontrata sa Malaysia, at nakarating sa Hong Kong ng walang binabayaran kahit magkano dahil bale direct hire siya ng amo ng kanyang ate.



Kahit naiinis ay walang nagawa si Minerva dahil nakatatanda sa kanya si Melba at malaki ang utang na loob niya dito dahil nakalipat siya ng Hong Kong ng walang ginastos kahit magkano.

Ang magkapatid ay parehong dalaga, tubong Pangasinan, at naninilbihan sa among taga Tin Shu Wai.- Ellen Asis

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Filipina DH jailed for 4 weeks for hurting 3-yr-old ward

By Vir B. Lumicao

A Tuen Mun magistrate reminded a Filipino domestic helper that Hong Kong law forbids assaulting a child, as he sentenced her to four weeks in jail on Jan. 7 for slapping her three-year-old ward’s hands and hitting him on the butt with a broom.

Magistrate Jacky Ip imposed the sentence on Eden Inabiohan, a single mother with a young son, two weeks after she pleaded guilty to four counts of “ill treatment of a child.”

A duty lawyer assigned to defend the helper asked the magistrate for a lenient sentence, saying no injury was found on the child during the two days that doctors in Tuen Mun hospital had examined him.

The helper was said to be remorseful, and had been used to a practice in the Philippines where parents could spank their children for misbehaving.

“But this in Hong Kong, where assaulting a child is a serious offense,” Magistrate Ip said.

He gave only the standard discount of a third of the prescribed sentence for her guilty plea.

Inabiohan was arrested by police on Nov 26 after her female employer reported that her son had been assaulted by the maid a day earlier.

Investigators who reviewed the CCTV footage in the employer’s home saw the helper slapping the boy’s hands and butt, and then hitting him on his butt with a broom.

The maid said she lost her temper when she heard the boy use foul language after she scolded him for scattering food.

Inabiohan had been working for the employer since February last year. It was her first time to work outside of the Philippines.


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Pinay, employer in online sex case charged with money laundering

By Vir B. Lumicao 

The Filipinas were granted bail at Eastern court

Two Filipina domestic workers charged with taking part in an online sex-for-pay service allegedly operated by their employer have been finally freed on bail, nearly eight months after their arrest.

But one of the helpers, Jo-an Palpal-latoc, has been charged along with her employer, named only as Ms Wong, with laundering about $20 million in alleged earnings from the illicit operation.

The individual counts of “living on the earnings of prostitution of others” against Palpal-latoc and Gallego were also amended to “conspiracy to live on the earnings of prostitution of others”.

Magistrate Peter Law granted bail of $500 each to Palpal-latoc, 40, and Jeanette Gallego, 47, on Monday, Jan 7, after giving the prosecution a scolding for letting the case drag on while the two were in custody.

Wong, 69, has been out on bail, along with her 72-year-old sister and a male relative after they were arrested in a police raid on May 17 last year on her flat on the 43rd floor of Tavistock II residential block on Tregunter Path, Mid-Levels.

The two maids were also arrested as they were found manning a number of dating websites offering sex to foreign tourists, police said.

Prosecutors said the registered company that operated the sex-for-pay service was housed in Wong’s flat. They later said bank ledgers found in the flat showed earnings from the operation went to Wong’s bank accounts.

Investigators also found a bank account owned by Palpal-latoc, with some amount in it, but they didn’t find any account owned by Gallego, so she was not charged with money laundering.

The two helpers broke into tears after hearing Magistrate Law say they would be released on bail.

Outside the courthouse, they said they thought they would be freed for good because they had already been in remand for nearly eight months.

“Ang sabi ng abogado sa amin noong Biyernes ay pagkatapos ng hearing ngayon ay makakauwi na kami,” said Gallego.

The two were later taken by an officer of the Consulate to a shelter run by the Overseas Worker Welfare Office, which was given to the court as their temporary address.

Law adjourned the hearing until Jan 28 for further investigation and legal advice,

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