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And so, farewell?

Posted on 06 August 2019 No comments



“The trouble with hello is goodbye,” so the song goes. And that’s exactly how many of us in Hong Kong felt recently, when our highly popular labor attaché finally bid goodbye to us, ending a stint that will always be remembered for two dramatic protests held to stop him being recalled to Manila.

Barely three years since he was posted in Hong Kong, Labor Attache Jolly dela Torre was given his walking papers for the third time in much the same manner it was done previously: abruptly, harshly, even arrogantly.

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The brief memo from Labor Secretary Bebot Bello stated that Labatt Jolly’s last day at work was July 7, or a scant few days away. His deputy, Tony Villafuerte, was to act as officer-in-charge until a replacement was found.

In what appeared to be a deliberate attempt to further bruise his ego, Labatt was told he was to proceed to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a hardship post he was sent to nearly two decades ago.

It’s a post generally reserved for rookies, or those outside of the appointing power’s elite circle. At age 62, and having distinguished himself in the various places he was sent previously, this was not obviously a posting Labatt would relish.

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In short, it was a punishment. An obvious attempt to cut him down to size, possibly because he dared turn himself into a labor rock star - never mind if it was all due to his hard work, brilliance and remarkable service - and not because he wanted to upstage his  superiors.

Bello must have been chafing, too, because his two previous attempts to pull Labatt Jolly out were stalled. First, because someone closer to the power-that-be had interceded on Labatt’s behalf, and second, because some labor underling failed to secure an exemption from a four-month election ban on the movement of government personnel.

Desperately trying to save face, Bello did get Labatt to go home early last year and made him stew for six months until, in petulant fashion, ordered him to write a letter of apology and own up to initiating the protests staged to thwart his recall. If this wasn’t so nasty it would have been laughable. Imagine Unifil-Migrante being told what to protest about!

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So Labatt got to serve nearly the full three years he was promised when he was sent here. But then again, labor officers are now sent abroad for five years, instead of just three, so they still owe him two years. That must have been how the Riyadh post was conjured, and one could almost imagine Bello chuckling to himself as he drafted his memo.

For sure, Filipinos in Riyadh, especially those who had known him when he was posted there, have been raring to get him back. One even posted on Facebook that it was time the Filcom in Hong Kong released him so he could help them in turn. We heard even the country’s ambassador to the kingdom had personally sent a message to Labatt to entice him to come.

But Riyadh’s gain shouldn’t be Hong Kong’s loss. Labatt still has a lot of plans for us,  and as he said in one of his farewell messages, he is sad to be leaving at a crucial time in the community. Already, Bello has announced a slowdown in the deployment of Filipino workers here because of the ongoing anti-government protests which many fear, could escalate further.

We need Labatt’s pro-active and pro-worker stance to help us through these difficult times. We need someone as trustworthy, as capable, and as caring as he has been in the brief but productive years he was with us.

In short, we need to continue to find ways to make him stay, now or never. --By Daisy Catherine L. Mandap
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POLO suspends agency in failed Canada recruitment

Posted on 06 August 2019 No comments
A Hong Kong employment agency that failed to place a Filipina helper in Canada despite collecting $46,000 from her, and then refused to return her money, has been suspended for a month by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.

Villafuerte at Polo office 
Polo officer-in-charge Antonio Villafuerte identified the agency as  Excellent Employment Service & Trading, which operate from a flat in Tung Wui building on Kimberly Road, Tsimshatsui.

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Villafuerte said on Aug 4 that he suspended the agency's accreditation the week before for violating Manila’s ban on third-country deployment, and for refusing to return the money it collected illegally. 

He said when the agency realizes that the work contracts it had submitted for processing at POLO are not moving, it would be easier to get it to refund the worker’s money.
“Kahit pa ayusin niya iyan, isang buwan para siya magtanda. Kasi kung hindi mo gaganunin, hindi magtatanda ang mga iyan eh,” Villafuerte said.

The worker sought Villafuerte’s help when the prospective job fell through because the employer had neglected to file the work contract within the filing period allegedly because he was traveling abroad.
By then, the Filipina had already paid the $46,000 placement fee, Villafuerte said. -Vir B. Lumicao
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Pals bid farewell to debt-plagued Pinay in fatal fall

Posted on 06 August 2019 No comments
Image may contain: 2 people
Many were teary-eyed while looking at J.T.'s remains and saying a final goodbye

By Vir B. Lumicao

Friends of a 40-year-old Filipina helper who plunged to her death from her employer’s flat in Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, on Jul 22 said they were aware of her financial problems but she kept them mostly to herself.

About 20 of her friends and church mates gathered at the Universal Funeral Parlour in Hung Hom at noon on Aug 4 to bid her a final farewell. Her remains were flown to Manila the next day, and transported by funeral car to her final resting place in Candelaria, Quezon.
Image may contain: 12 people, including Melody Sotero, people standing
J.T.'s friends stayed until her casket was placed in a wooden box prior to her flight back home
  
Most of her friends wiped away tears as they viewed the remains of J.T., who was single and had a 14-year-old son.

“Mas mahirap ang dinanas niya sa Kuwait at Jordan pero ang lakas ng loob niya noon, Pagkatapos nagawa niya ito,” said one friend, who did not want to give her name.
The friend said she and other members of their informal group Mayward Flyers, who got together in their church in Kwai Chung on their day off, knew about the victim’s financial woes but did not ask her about these out of respect for her privacy.

Another friend said one loan fell due in June when the victim failed to pay her monthly amortization.
Another helper, said to be J.T.’s best friend in the group, did not have the courage to see her remains despite bearing a bunch of daisies for her. She only peeked into the victim’s coffin after some prodding by others who said that it would be the last time she’d see her friend.

Hong Kong police have said J.T.’s death appeared to be related to her debt problems.

Ironically, her family now stands to receive around  Php600,000 in insurance payouts as a result of her death.
Welfare officer Virsie Tamayao said more than Php500,000 will come from the deceased’s mandatory insurance, and Php120,000 in death benefit from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration

She said the victim was a first-time overseas Filipino worker in Hong Kong and was still covered by the two-year mandatory insurance and was also an active OWWA member. Her two-year contract would have lapsed this coming September.

Tamayao said suicide is covered in both payouts because stress is considered as a health-related concern of OFWs.
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Filipino arrested in Mongkok rally released on bail

Posted on 06 August 2019 No comments

By Vir B. Lumicao
Protesters gather outside the courthouse to support those arrested, including Pioquinto
Filipino dancer Jethro Pioquinto was released this evening, Aug. 5, after posting bail of $2,000 in Kowloon City Court where he was charged for unlawful assembly, but was not allowed to go home to Manila as planned for a family reunion.

Magistrate Raymond Wong said that one of the bail conditions for the Hong Kong Disneyland performer was not to leave Hong Kong. The other conditions are that he will have to observe a
midnight to 6am curfew and report to the Mong Kok police every Wednesday morning.
Pioquinto, 36, a performer at Hong Kong Disneyland since 2008, was released around 6:30pm on Monday after a late-afternoon committal hearing for 13 people arrested on the night of Aug 3, when police broke up a rally on Nathan Road.
Image may contain: 1 person
Pioquinto looking scared as police in riot gear surrounded him on Sunday, Aug 4
He appeared in court with his right arm wrapped in thick gauze pad due to a laceration that he suffered when he tumbled on the pavement and riot police ganged up on him.

Officers of the Consulate who attended the hearing said Pioquinto was held at the North Point Police Station following his arrest but was taken to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital the next morning where he was examined and treated for his injuries.
The SUN asked to talk to Pioquinto after he posted bail and was released by police, but he begged off, saying he could not comment yet as his case is still under investigation and he might say something that could complicate it.

The prosecution said the defendant refused to leave when the police ordered the protesters to go before they began a clearing operation.
Pioquinto was tackled before being arrested in Mongkok.
His friends say he was just passing by, but police claim he did not heed an order to leave.

But the defense lawyer said Pioquinto was not a rally participant and could not have understood the police order to leave because he does not speak Cantonese.

In fact, the lawyer said, the defendant had already bought a plane ticket to Manila departing on Aug 15 and returning on Aug 23 to attend a family reunion which will also be joined by some of his siblings who work abroad. 
The lawyer said Pioquinto, who has no relatives in Hong Kong, goes home to the Philippines two to three times a year.

Friends of the defendant said on social media he was on his way home to his rented room in Mong Kok when he got caught up in the rally.

The prosecution said it strongly opposed the defendant’s application to travel to the Philippines because of the risk that he would not return to Hong Kong.

Pioquinto appeared in court together with a Chinese co-defendant who, like him, was arrested on Saturday evening.

Magistrate Wong granted bail to 12 other protesters arrested on Saturday and ordered then to return for the next hearing on Sept 30.

Meanwhile, fierce clashes erupted again tonight in North Point between protesters and a group of pole-wielding assailants.

Image may contain: 1 person, standing, walking and outdoor
The North Point clashes between black-clad protesters and men wielding wooden poles
The skirmishes lasted for a few minutes as protesters were walking towards the North Point police station, where those arrested by police in Mongkok Sunday night were held.

No police were in sight during the melee, but it was clear from videos of the incident posted online that a few people were injured.
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