Filipino DH wins appeal against upskirt video conviction

By The SUN

The judge said the lower court failed to consider that  what happened may have been an accident

A High Court judge has overturned a Filipino domestic worker’s conviction more than two years ago on a charge of taking an upskirt video of a woman on an escalator in the Megabox shopping mall in Kowloon Bay.

In a judgment issued on Sept 10, Judge Isaac Tam quashed the conviction of Nelson San Juan and set aside his sentence of three weeks in jail, saying he was not satisfied that the prosecution had considered the possibility of accident in what had happened.

San Juan was arrested on Dec 12, 2016 on a charge that he followed a local woman on the escalators of Megabox and took a video under her skirt.

He was found guilty on a charge of “committing an act outraging public decency” by Kwun Tong Magistrate Chu Chung-keung on Jan 4, 2018.

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In his appeal, San Juan said his conviction was unsafe and/or unsatisfactory as Chu erred in finding his behavior deliberate, and excluded the possibility of an accident.

He also claimed “that finding of fact was against the weight of the evidence” as Chu considered only the police officer’s statement that San Juan’s phone camera was focused under the skirt of the woman in front of him on the escalator.

 Judge Tam agreed, saying the video clearly showed that the defendant’s camera was not aimed at the woman’s underskirt as, except for a few seconds, the footage showed the reflected image of a woman in a black skirt.

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 “The fact that the lens of the phone was not aimed at [the victim] provides a doubt as to whether the appellant’s action was deliberate”, said the judge. 

It also cast doubt on the officer’s reliability as a witness that the magistrate failed to pick up.

The judge also said that the appellant's claim that he had accidentally turned on the video in his camera was "at least plausible and it was not, with respect, rendered unbelievable by the prosecution’s cross-examination."

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 He said the whole matter was not helped by the prosecution misunderstanding the defense evidence, and by the magistrate following through from that misunderstanding.

The judge noted that the prosecution had wrongly stated that San Juan followed and took a video of the woman on an escalator from the ground floor of the mall, and then on to another escalator from the first to the fifth floor.

“In fact, according to the evidence, the alleged taking of upskirt video (not photo as put) took place on two escalators, nos 12 and 24.  No 12 runs from 1st to 5th Floors and no 24 runs from 5th to 6th Floors,” said the judge.

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But the judge rejected San Juan’s argument that the offence of taking upskirt footage cannot be classified as outraging public decency.

“Having exercised my powers as a rehearing judge and remembering always that I do not have the advantage that the magistrate had of seeing and hearing the witnesses first hand, I am not satisfied that the prosecution had excluded the possibility of accident in what had happened beyond a reasonable doubt,” Judge Tam said.

San Juan was represented in his appeal by three lawyers from Bar Free Legal Service Scheme.

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Polo opens new Admiralty office to workers' great relief

By Vir B. Lumicao

Migrant workers are happy Polo and PCG are now under one roof

No more long walks going to two key Philippine government offices in Hong Kong.

This was how Filipino workers and officers of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office welcomed with relief the opening of Polo’s new premises today, Sept 13, on the 29^th floor of United Centre in Admiralty.

Labor Attaché Melchor Dizon said the new Polo address is more convenient and easily accessible than its just vacated premises at YF Life Tower on Lockhart Road in Wanchai.

All offices of the Polo/Overseas Workers Welfare Administration are on one floor. More importantly, the office is in the same building as the Philippine Consulate General, which occupies the entire 14^th floor.

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He said workers with business to transact in both offices will no longer have to walk some distance from Polo’s previous office in Wanchai to the PCG in Admiralty.

Aside from the convenience of being near the public transport hub, the workers have more space to line up in United Centre, especially during peak seasons or inclement weather.

For orderly queuing, two volunteers manning a passage to the cordoned off second floor lift lobby at United Centre directed those visiting POLO or PCG where to go.

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Volunteers said worker traffic was heavy in the morning with more people going to POLO to process contracts or approach the OWWA for help.

Assistant Labor Attache Tony Villafuerte said he was at the lobby before 8am helping the volunteers direct the crowd of workers going up, as Consul General Raly Tejada reportedly wants an orderly queuing so as not to upset the building management.

The only glitch on opening day was the lack of seats in the public area

Up on the 29^th floor, Polo’s doors open directly to the spacious public hall where workers can transact at six counter windows. The hall is evidently bigger than the Consulate’s public hall and is a wide bare area without any seats.

Some of the 60 workers at the queue before 1pm said they were happy with Polo’s move.

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“Mas mainam na rito. Hindi na kami maglalakad nang malayo kapag may lalakarin din kami sa kabila,” said one woman who said she was lining up for the OWWA window. But she said there should be seats for those waiting for their turn at the windows.

ALA Angelica Sunga said the blue folding chairs from the previous site are still in the storeroom as POLO officials are still drawing up the layout plan for the hall. “We still have to finalize the layout plan,” she said.

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The executive offices are in a separate, northern wing of the premises with four equally large rooms for the two assistant labor attachés and two OWWA welfare officers on the right side of a hall. A conference room and four POLO cubicles are on the left side.

Labatt Dizon's new office is twice as big as the old one

At the northern end of the hall is Labatt Dizon’s room. It is more than twice as big as his former room at YF Life Tower with a spacious sitting area for visitors.      

       

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3 quarantined Filipina DHs linked to 5 earlier infections test positive for Covid-19

By Daisy CL Mandap

8 of the 13 Filipinas who arrived from Manila together on Wednesday are now infected

Three more Filipina domestic helpers who arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday as part of a group of 13 recruits by the same employment agency in Manila, were confirmed as positive for Covid-19 today, Sept 13.

The three tested positive while in a quarantine centre where they were taken after five of their companions tested positive on arrival at Hong Kong Airport.

Two, aged 34 and 35, both developed symptoms yesterday, but the third, who is 40 years old, was asymptomatic.

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All of the eight infected FDHs from the group were taken to public hospitals for isolation and treatment, while the remaining five are still in the quarantine centre.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said that all the 13 FDHs who flew in via Hong Kong Airlines Flight HX872 on Wednesday had lived in the same dormitory ran by their recruitment agencies in Manila days before their flight.

Consul General Raly Tejada identified the Manila agencies as Placewell International Services Corporation and Triple One Human Manpower Services Corp which appear to be operated by one family, and are located on different floors of JMC Centre in Makati.

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In Hong Kong, the agencies have been listed as FRA Golden Full and FRA Golden Win, but neither is listed in the Employment Agencies Administration Portal. But there is one Golden Win, which has three branches across the city.

Congen Tejada said the agencies have been told to extend help to their infected recruits. 

It remains unclear why a majority of the FDHs from a single group were found infected, when everyone who departs from the Philippines is required to present a negative result for a Covid-19 swab test taken no earlier than 72 hours before departure.

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Meanwhile, a 41-year-old Indonesian domestic worker was found infected when she and her employers took part in the universal community testing on Sep 10 at the Lai King Community Health Centre.

Dr Chuang said the Indonesian’s employers were found negative of the virus although the maid often stayed with them at home, and would only go to the Mei Foo wet market to buy food supplies. The Sunday before the test, she did not take a day-off.

Of the day’s infections, eight were imported. The other five were all returning residents from India, and include a three-year-old boy who arrived on Sept 11, and four members of the same family who tested positive while quarantined in a hotel in Tsuen Wan.

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Asked if she was worried about the return of the daily tally to double digit in the past two days after dropping to just six previously, Chuang said no as because many of the cases are imported. These patients are tested on arrival, and are made to undergo a 14-day quarantine so the risk of them spreading the virus in the community is low, she explained.

Chuang said there's less chance imported cases will spread the virus in the community

Chuang said the bigger worry is still the number of local cases for which the sources are unknown, like the five listed today, three of which were detected through the mass testing.

Apart from the Indonesian helper, the two other cases from the UCT were a 65-year-old woman who lives in Tai Hing Estate in Tuen Mun and a 75-year-old retired male patient who lives in Cheung Sha Wan.

The CHP expert said the low positive rate from the UCT was a good thing as it means there are not a lot of  silent carriers in the community.

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 “But it also proves that there are indeed some cases in the community, so we have to be vigilant and keep up with our personal hygiene,” she said.

Out of more than 1.7 million people who took part in the two-week program which ends tomorrow, only 26 people tested positive for Covid-19.

There are now a total of 4,958 people who have been infected in Hong Kong. However, only 181 remain in public hospitals and the treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo. Of these, 21 are critical, nine are serious, and 151 are in stable condition.

The fatality toll remains at 99.

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Musicians urge live performances to resume as officials mull bar reopening

By Daisy CL Mandap

HKMU officers & advisers led by Lo (in green shirt) met with Cheung to air their concerns 

Musicians are calling for the resumption of live performances as Hong Kong officials have assured that bars, karaokes and nightclubs could reopen by next week if the infection rate remains at a low level.

Manuela D. Lo, chairman of the Hong Kong Musicians Union, says she hopes the reopening of bars could again lead to live shows being allowed to resume.

“Like before, they opened the bars first, then the live music,” Lo says.

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The head of one of Hong Kong's oldest unions has kept up an appeal for help, particularly for her 100 or so members who have been jobless for months because of the ban on live shows.

Lo estimates that about 1,000 musicians have either lost their jobs or have resorted to doing unrelated work to survive since the pandemic swept across the city early this year.

Including the forced closures from protest-related violence late last year, she says most musicians have been without income for about six months.

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Among those she has called upon for help is lawmaker Tommy Cheung, who represents the catering sector in the Legislative Council.

During a meeting with Cheung on Wednesday last week, the HKMU led by Lo proposed new social distancing measures that the legislator could present to government health officials to convince them to allow live shows.

These include barring musicians from interacting with customers during their performances, for everyone to wear face masks while on stage, and to use protective shields between the performers and the audience.

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Cheung said he had already forwarded their request to the relevant authorities, but it might help if they could appeal directly to the decision-makers. He suggested a meeting between the musicians and a top policy maker as soon as possible.

Live performances were first halted in early April, following an outbreak among about 50 musicians, food servers and customers of four bars in Central, Wanchai and Tsim Sha Tsui.

They reopened on Jun 18, only to close again after about a month when the third wave of infections swept across Hong Kong.

Cheung has promised to arrange a meeting between HKMU and govt decision-makers

In a separate interview earlier today, Sept 12, Cheung urged the government to reopen bars, karaokes and nightclubs as soon as possible, saying the industry is happy to implement new measures needed for their businesses to reopen safely.

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His call follows a statement made by Health and Food Secretary Sophia Chan last week that pubs, karaoke bars and nightclubs could reopen next if the Covid-19 situation in Hong Kong remains under control.

Starting last Friday, various business establishments previously shut like gyms, beauty and massage parlors were allowed to reopen, and the gathering restrictions relaxed further to allow up to four people to eat and gather together in public.

Cheung has proposed that his sector could take various anti-epidemic measures such as sterilising utensils with boiling water, using e-money and limiting customer stays in the restaurant to no more than two hours, but has yet to get a definite response.

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"We met with the Chief Secretary and a whole bunch of government officials from the FEHD and all that and make our proposals. So far we have no received any word – positive or negative – about our proposals," Cheung said in a radio interview.

Earlier, the chairman of the Lan Kwai Fong Group, Allan Zeman, also called on the government to make good on its promise to reopen bars from Sept 18.

"The traditional bars, just for drinking, they're having major problems, many of them are on life support, I don't know how much longer they can hang on,” said Zeman in a separate interview with RTHK.

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PCG extends help to infected OFWs as 2 more test positive at HK airport

By Daisy CL Mandap

 

The 2 Filipinas included in today's list of new cases flew in aboard CX906 (File Photo)

Philippine Consulate officials have moved to help five Filipina domestic helpers who were among 12 Covid-19 patients reported yesterday, and are now in isolation in two hospitals.

This comes as two more Filipina DHs, aged 29 and 26,  were included among 13 new cases recorded today, Sept. 12.

According to Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection, the two new patients arrived via Cathay Pacific flight CX 906 on Sept 10.

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She said they were linked to the first batch of 13 FDHs that flew in the day before aboard Hong Kong Airlines Flight HX872, which included the five earlier cases. The infected patients are aged 30, 33, 34, 35 and 39.

Consul General Raly Tejada said four from the first batch of sick Filipinas were admitted to Princess Margaret Hospital, and one, to United Christian Hospital. He said the Consulate is now talking to the workers and their agencies.

“The agencies have purchased basic essentials for the patients which will be delivered today,” Congen Tejada said.

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He identified the Hong Kong agencies as FRA Golden Full with three workers and FRA Golden Win with three workers. Their counterparts in the Philippines are Placewell International Services and Tripple 1.

He confirmed Hong Kong authorities’ report that the workers stayed together in their respective agency’s dormitories in Manila before their departure.

Hong Kong health authorities said the eight other Filipinas in the group had been taken to a quarantine centre for observation.

Congen Tejada wants to know as soon as a Filipino is found infected so the Consulate can  help if needed

Earlier, Congen Tejada expressed surprise that the Consulate was not immediately told about the new infections which he learned about only from The SUN.

He said the standing protocol is that the CHP would inform the Consulate immediately if there was a Filipino detected to have the coronavirus, and he reiterated this to Food and Health Secretary Sophia Chan when they met only last week.

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“Kaya lang ang sabi nila madami ang ayaw ipaalam na maysakit sila. Sabi (naman) namin sa Pilipinas public health trumps data privacy laws. Sabi ko gusto lang naman naming makausap at least para matulungan,” he said.

(But they said many patients don’t want it known that they are sick. We countered that in the Philippines, public health trumps data privacy laws. I said we just want to talk to them at least so we can help).

At the press conference, Dr Chuang was asked if CHP would ask the Philippine government for an explanation on why the FDHs who were supposed to have tested negative before leaving Manila were found positive on arrival.

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She replied that it was the CHP’s understanding that the helpers stayed together in the agency hostels before departing for Hong Kong, suggesting that it was the source of their infection. 

In any case, she said Hong Kong still requires them to get tested at the airport and to quarantine for 14 days after arrival to make sure they are free of the virus before they rejoin the community.

Apart from the two Filipinas who flew in via Cathay, there were two other imported cases reported today. One is a returnee from India who flew via London, and the other, from Russia via Turkey.

Five of the eight local cases were of unknown source, and included a 30-year-old waitress at the Gold Coast Café, a 67-year-old male retiree who lives in Yau Tong, a 51-year-old woman who works in To Kwa Wan and lives in Tai Wai, an 88-year-old male retiree living in Kwai Chung, and a 45-year-old female clerk who lives in Wong Tai Sin.

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Three of the four remaining cases belong to the same family that lives in Yau Tong. The first family member to get sick was a 67-year-old male retiree who went to United Christian Hospital when he fell ill on Wednesday. He tested positive the next day. A check on his family members showed three others had the virus.

The fourth linked case is a man who lives in Yau Ma Tei.

Dr Lau Ka-hin of the Hospital Authority reported that another patient passed away this morning, bringing the city’s death toll to 99. The 67-year-old male patient who was confined at Caritas Medical Centre was found to have developed antibodies to Covid-19 but died of terminal cancer.

Of the 4,939 total cases recorded in Hong Kong, only 185 are still being treated in public  hospitals and the community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo as of 9am today.

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Polo moves back to United Centre this Sunday

By The SUN

ConGen Tejada and Labatt Dizon cut the ribbon to open the new Polo office 

Filipino migrant workers with transactions at the Consulate and its attached labor office will be doing their business in just one building, the United Centre in Admiralty, once again starting this Sunday, Sept 13.

This is due to the relocation of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office to the 29^th floor Office B of the same building where the Consulate owns and occupies the entire 14^th floor.

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The new Polo premises were inaugurated yesterday afternoon, Sept 10 by Consul General Raly L. Tejada and Labor Attaché Melchor B. Dizon in a short ribbon-cutting and blessing ceremony attended by their officers and staff. Fr Jun Jacobe administered the religious rite.

ConGen Tejada welcomed Polo’s return to United Centre in a message on the Consulate’s Facebook page.

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“This enables the PCG and its attached offices to continue delivering efficient services while providing greater convenience for all Filipinos living and working in the territory,” he said.

“This represents the Philippine government’s commitment to meet the increasing demand and expectations of the Filipino community which is now the largest ethnic minority in Hong Kong.”

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As of July 31 this year, there were nearly 210,000 Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong, the main users of the two offices’ services.

Polo’s return to United Centre makes it convenient for workers to do business with both government agencies as they no longer have to walk several blocks to and from either office when processing their papers.

Consulate & Polo staff bow heads in prayer during the office blessing

Filipino workers immediately welcomed the move.

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“Salamat naman po mga beloved Sirs and Madams. At least yong mga tulad naming tumatakas sa amo eh di na pahanap-hanap pa kung saan ba ito, saan ba yan. At least iisa na. Congrats po at mabuhay kayong lahat,” said Minda Capacap in her comment on Facebook.

POLO moved out of the United Centre offices it shared with the PCG and into the 11^th and 16^th floors of the Admiralty Centre Tower 1 on Mar 1, 2015.

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But after the building management there raised the rent, then Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre decided to move the Polo offices to the 16 and 18^th floors of Mass Mutual Tower, now YF Life Tower, on Lockhart Road in Wanchai.

PADALA NA!

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