Filipina helper claiming torture by employer seeks police help

By Daisy CL Mandap

 

Eden says her employer used a frying pan to hit her thighs and stomach...

...after slapping her on both cheeks an incredible 15 times

It is Erwiana all over again. But this time, it is a Filipina domestic worker who is claiming to have suffered horrific abuse at the hands of her local employer over a 14-month period.

Eden P., 36, fled the house of her employer on Sunday, May 30, all black and blue, and went to the Shatin office of her employment agency, Get Smart, the only place she knew in Hong Kong.

According to Eden, she was never allowed to leave her employer’s house in Serenade Cove, Tsuen Wan since she arrived in March last year. During that entire time, she was repeatedly scratched, slapped, punched and hit with objects by her female employer, Mrs Mak, a teacher.

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Photos taken by Eden’s fellow residents at the agency’s boarding house were reminiscent of the ordeal suffered by Indonesian helper Erwiana some seven years ago.

Two ugly contusions on her thighs, and another on her belly, were clearly prominent. Eden told Shatin Police these were caused by a frying pan that her employer had hit her with about five times on May 25.

The other photos showed obvious scratch marks on her back and front upper body, with more recent nicks on her side and one on her back.

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Before hitting her with the fying pan, Eden said Mak had slapped her an incredible 15 times on both sides of her face, all because the employer’s 19-month-old baby boy was crying loudly and did not finish his congee.

Not content with this, Mak reportedly kicked Eden’s lower legs about five more times until the crying helper begged her to stop.

In a phone interview with The SUN later, Eden said her male employer, a physiotherapist, had told her Mak’s volatile behavior was caused by post-partum depression. The helper said the male employer never tried to stop his wife from hitting her.

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Eden also said that was not the first time Mak had hurt her. She claimed her employer often scratched and pinched her, which was why in the photos shared by her board mates, Eden’s back was full of deep scratch marks or contusions, some of them still raw, while the others were already healed or healing.

Eden's back is full of deep scratch wounds, both old and new

Even her breasts were not spared, as there were quite a few scratch marks there as well.

In the afternoon of May 29, Mak allegedly blew up again because her baby had another crying fit and would not finish his pasta. The employer went to the kitchen and vented her ire at the helper again, slapping her face repeatedly with both hands.

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Mak then allegedly punched the helper on the chest and back about five times, then scratched both sides of her face and her back, before going back to the living room.

Eden said when she checked her face, she saw both sides of her face were bleeding and her chest and back were in pain.

Her whole body bears signs of being pinched, pricked and scratched

The next day, Eden said she was left alone at home, and she seized the chance to escape.

Accompanied by a fellow agency client, Eden went to Shatin Police to make a statement, and officers accompanied her to a hospital for a medical check-up. She managed to get back to the agency shelter early the next day.

A few hours later, she reported to the Mission for Migrant Workers office in Central to seek help. Edwina Antonio, case officer and executive director of Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge, offered to take her in so she could be helped with her case and get counseling service.

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Eden agreed, but said her agency didn’t want her to move, saying the boarding house was what was listed as her address in the police file.

The next day, Tuesday, Eden was supposed to ask Get Maid to again allow her to move to Bethune House, but suddenly stopped communicating with Antonio and others who had offered to help her.

Where is Eden?

Failing to get the helper to respond to their call or text messages, the Mission, through Antonio and general manager Cynthia Tellez, got alarmed and sought help from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.

They wanted to find out where Eden was, and what action had been done to ensure the worker’s safety.

They also asked what Polo had intended to do with the agency for not reporting the case immediately to them, considering it involved a complaint for serious physical abuse and detention of an overseas Filipino worker.

Polo’s officer-in-charge Antonio Villafuerte responded with a text to The SUN, saying the agency had already submitted a report to them. “The OFW is secured. Police investigation is going on.”

He no longer responded when asked where Eden was, and why she stopped talking to Antonio and other people who had initially helped her with her case.

The Mission and The SUN pressed on for answers, saying the worker’s safety is better assured if she was in the Consulate’s shelter or Bethune House, and not in the agency’s boarding house.

Consul General Raly Tejada, who had been apprised of the case earlier, eventually intervened, and directed Polo to respond to the queries and convene a meeting attended by ATN, the Mission and The SUN.

During the hastily arranged meeting Saturday, it emerged Eden was in the agency’s care until Wednesday, and was moved to the Consulate’s shelter only on Thursday. The agency also reported the case to Polo only after it was asked about it.

More facts emerged during meeting at POLO.

In its report, the agency also claimed its staff had accompanied Eden to the police station, an assertion which the worker herself denied.

A call to Eden also revealed the agency had told her to stop talking to anyone apart from officers at Polo, ostensibly because the police had forbidden it. She was also told she would be called to discuss her labor claims against her employer.

Tellez reacted strongly to the latter, saying settling Eden’s claims should not simply involve what is in the contract, but also compensation for the wrong that was done to her, as what the Mission had done in the case of Erwiana.

The meeting ended with a tentative agreement for Tellez and her group to see Eden at the Consulate on Sunday, but not at the shelter run by OWWA.

ATN, through Consul Bob Quintin and officer Arnel de Luna, also promised to liaise with police on whether Eden’s employer has already been arrested and what further actions will be taken in her case.

Amid the uneasy truce, the Mission officers are determined to get more time to confer with Eden to check on her well-being and to advise her on what lay ahead, both in terms of her police case and the civil case for compensation that might have to be filed on her behalf.

“She should understand what she will have to go through,” Tellez said

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4 ‘abandoned’ workers of HK socialite get help from PCG

By The SUN

The Filipina workers were fetched from the employer's house with help from police

Four Filipino domestic workers who reported being abandoned by their socialite employer in her house in a posh residential area in Stanley have been “rescued” Friday by officers from the Consulate and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

The four workers who used to be in the employ of Chua Eh Fong resigned en masse recently, claiming to have been overworked.

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But after three of them paid the employer a month’s salary in lieu of wages, Chua reportedly left her house in Regalia Bay without a word and moved to another one nearby.

Afraid that they would be accused of doing something illegal if they left without permission from the employer, the workers asked help from the Consulate.

Tamayao talking with the police escorts

In a post Saturday, OWWA welfare officer Virsie Tamayao said the evacuation of the workers from the employer’s house was made in coordination with the Stanley Police Station.

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“The Police cooperated and supported the decision to get the workers out from their workplace on the basis of our consultation with the officer of the Hong Kong Labour Department who's been likewise monitoring the case,” said Tamayao.

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She was assisted in the operation by Arnel de Luna of the Consulate’s assistance to nationals section.

Chua has falsely accused another Filipina helper of theft

Chua was in the news recently after her claim that another former Filipina helper, Liverty Narcelles, had stolen her $100,000 ring was dismissed by an Eastern Court magistrate for lack of evidence.

Narcelles, who was imprisoned for four months for a crime she did not commit, is still pursuing a labour claim against Chua with help from the Mission for Migrant Workers.

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In the last hearing of the Narcelles’ claim at the Labour Tribunal in April this year, Chua resisted paying a month’s salary in lieu of notice, saying she had been provoked into firing the helper.

Before this, the hearing was postponed because Chua made the outrageous claim that it was not her former employer who was in court to pursue the claim.

Narcelles was jailed for 4 months for a crime she did not commit

With the parties failing to reach a settlement, the tribunal officer set the next hearing to Dec 1.

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In the meantime, Immigration has reportedly rejected Narcelles’ application to have a new employment contract processed while waiting for her labour claim to be settled.

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Mother of teenage girl with UK variant tests preliminary positive

By Daisy CL Mandap

No one among 850 people tested at the Tin Shui Wai block where the girl lives, was found infected

Hong Kong health authorities have quarantined more than 100 people for the next 21 days after the mother of a 17-year-old girl who was confirmed today, Jun 5, to be a carrier of the coronavirus variant first detected in the United Kingdom, also tested preliminary positive.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said at today’s press briefing that both mother and daughter were found to have a heavy viral load, so it was not clear who infected who.

“The CT value is between 16 to 19, meaning it’s a recent case, so it’s hard to tell who got infected first,” said Chuang.

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She also said it was possible that they’re linked to an imported case, although health authorities have yet to establish the source of their infection.

“We’re worried because the two patients have gone to various places and it is a mutant strain. It may be more infectious,” Chuang said.

“We will quarantine even those who were not considered as close contacts before because we’re not sure they’re transmitters,” she said.

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The girl whose infection was confirmed last night through a second test processed by the Department of Health’s laboratory, studies in a secondary school in Tin Shui Wai and has attended tutorial classes in Tuen Mun.

On May 29, she visited the Hong Kong International Education Expo in Wanchai, and visited a jewelry store nearby.

Her mother visited far more places during the incubation period, including a food court, supermarket, law firm, elderly home, government office, public library, hospital and a cemetery.

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All these places will be put under a compulsory testing notice while their close contacts will be moved to quarantine centers.

Last night, the Tin Shui Wai housing block where the girl lives with her mother and other family members was locked down but no one among the 850 residents who were tested was found positive for the coronavirus.

The girl’s infection was detected after she developed fever, runny nose, headache and loss of smell on June 2. She went for a test at the Tin Shui Wai Community Health Centre the next day and was found preliminary positive.

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She was taken to Tuen Mun Hospital where further tests showed she had the mutated strain of the coronavirus, and carried a heavy viral load.

Her infection ended 42 days of no untraceable case being found in Hong Kong. She is also on record as the first local patient whose variant infection has yet to be traced to an outside source.

“This is the first N501Y strain case with untraceable source of infection so we will therefore take the most stringent control measures, said CHP controller Dr Ronald Lam.

CHP chief says the variant cases highlight the need to get more people vaccinated

He also said the cases highlighted the importance of boosting Hong Kong’s vaccination rate as neither mother nor daughter had taken the coronavirus jab.

“The current vaccination rate in Hong Kong is still low, so that’s the reason why we need to boost the vaccination uptake as soon as possible so we can obtain herd immunity,” said Lam.

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Despite having one of the strictest entry restrictions for incoming travelers, he said there is still a chance that mutated strains of the coronavirus could leak into the community from abroad.

He cited the “frightening situation” in India and Taiwan, where the mutant virus has caused an unprecedented surge in infections.

Hong Kong now has a total of 11,851 coronavirus cases, after today’s newly confirmed case. There are about 10 preliminary positive cases.

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More Filipinos claim they’ve been conned by bogus recruiter

By Vir B. Lumicao 

A picture of Fernandez shared by some of her victims 

More Filipino domestic helpers claiming to have been duped by convicted recruiter Mila B. Fernandez have surfaced, saying they had lost several thousand dollars in fees she charged them for Hong Kong jobs that turned out to be bogus.

At least five new alleged victims revealed they were scammed by Fernandez from 2019 until February this year, before she was arrested a second time by Customs and Excise officers for “applying a false trade description to services offered to a consumer.”

Fernandez was first arrested on Dec 13, 2020 after victim Arlene Alday filed a complaint of taking $33,005 as payment for jobs such as drivers and yacht cleaners for Alday as down payment for 12 relatives and friends who unwittingly applied for the fake jobs.

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Fernandez was freed on bail. However, another victim, Charito Delfino, complained to Customs she paid $28,500 and Php10,000 as full placement fees for six applicants and down payment for eight others for similar jobs that were nonexistent.

She was rearrested on Feb 26 this year on a similar charge of “applying a false trade description”. It was found out she didn’t submit any visa applications for the applicants. The Labour Department also said she was not licensed to recruit job applicants.

Fernandez pleaded guilty in Eastern Court on Jun 2 to the two charges. Magistrate Paul Yip asked for probation, community service and background reports before sentencing her on Jun 16. Yip said he would deal with the victims’ call for compensation on that day.

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Upon reading the news about Fernandez’s court appearance, more victims have come out to claim the woman had also conned them of several thousand dollars for jobs as yacht cleaners and drivers that were never realized.

One of them, Rommel, said he was referred by a friend to Fernandez around March 2020 after he was dismissed from his job as a driver. He said the woman claimed she had a client in Kowloon Tong who needed a stay-in driver.

Rommel paid $2,500 to Fernandez, who also allegedly used the name “Mila Fan,” after submitting all his application documents, and then went home in April last year to wait for his work visa in Metro Manila.

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He referred some friends and his two brothers, who all applied as drivers. They also reportedly paid Fernandez $2,500 each as down payment and sent her their application documents. But Rommel got suspicious when no visa came after they had waited for months.

He asked Fernandez, but she had many excuses. So, he sought a friend’s help to inquire at the Consulate and Philippine Overseas Labor Office if his contract had been submitted for processing. He found that no such contract under his name had been submitted.

When he confronted Fernandez, the woman told him the employer had backed out while the papers were at Immigration. He asked for a refund but the woman didn’t pay up.

Remittance slips to Fernandez's accounts from Philippines-based applicants

Another victim, Vangie, said that after she met Fernandez in 2019, she referred four applicants who each gave a $2,500 down payment for a job as yacht cleaner.

Vangie also paid $2,500 to Fernandez and lent her $1,200 that she had set aside to buy medicine for her sick mother. When the promised jobs didn’t materialize, she called up the recruiter, who said the applications were already being processed by Immigration.

When the applicants became impatient and threatened to complain to the authorities, Vangie said she had to reimburse their money because she didn’t want to get into trouble.

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Other domestic helpers who said they were duped by Fernandez were Elizabeth Galbo, Jessica Tagubasi and Neneng. They were all happy to hear that the law had caught up with Fernandez.

“Mabuti nahuli kana rin Ate Mila. Dami mo naloko at isa na ako dun.” said Tagubasi. (It’s just right that you’ve finally been arrested, sister Mila. You duped so many people and I am one of them). It’s just right for you to pay the price of your mistake.”

The complaints against Fernandez first surfaced when The SUN published an article about how nine Filipina domestic workers led by Alday and Delfino, had complained to the Consulate in December 2019 about how they lost at least $112,000 to the smooth-talking scammer

They backed up their complaints with remittance slips showing the money paid by some of their Philippines-based relatives directly to Fernandez's bank accounts in Hong Kong.

At the time, they learned Fernandez had been fired from ACJ International Recruitment Services because of similar complaints.

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Local teen tests positive for mutant virus

By Daisy CL Mandap

(UPDATED)

The 17-year-old girl is being treated in Tuen Mun Hospital

A 17-year-old girl who lives in Tin Shui Wai has tested positive for a mutated strain of the coronavirus whose source is still being investigated.

A government statement issued earlier tonight, Jun 4, said the girl, who was found with the more infectious N501Y variant, lives at Shing Yu House, Tin Shing Court in Tin Shui Wai.

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 She studies at Queen Elizabeth School Old Students' Association Tong Kwok Wah Secondary School at 57 Tin Wah Road, Tin Shui Wai and attends tutorial class at Tak Wing Industrial Building at 3 Tsun Wen Road, Tuen Mun.

On May 29, she visited the Hong Kong International Education Expo, held at Hall 1C of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai.

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An overnight lockdown has just been ordered for Shing Yu House which will remain in effect until 7am tomorrow. All residents of the building will be tested overnight, and on days 3, 7, 12 and 19 counting from the day on which the case is confirmed. 

The compulsory testing notice will also be issued at her school and the places she had stayed during the incubation period. People who had been present at the above premises at specified periods need to undergo compulsory testing on or before June 6, 2021.

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According to the statement from the Centre for Health Protection, the girl developed symptoms including fever, runny nose, headache and loss of smell on June 2. The next day she went to the Tin Shui Wai community health centre where she submitted deep throat saliva for testing on the same day. The sample tested preliminary positive.

Today the positive result was confirmed by Department of Health’s Laboratory Service Branch which also found that the sample carried the N501Y mutant strain (but it is negative to E484K and L452R strains).

The girl, whose viral load was reportedly found to be high, is now being treated in Tuen Mun Hospital.

If her infection is confirmed tomorrow, she would end Hong Kong’s 42-day record of no untraceable Covid-19 case.

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Meanwhile, only one case was reported today, Jun 4, involving a 21-year-old female who flew in from Austria.

She tested positive while under quarantine at Ramada Harbour View Hotel in Sai Ying Pun.

Hong Kong has recorded a total of 11,850 Covid-19 cases with 120.

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Fate foils Feliz, 8-4, as Osabel fires up Filipinas

By Emz Frial

Osabel sails to home base a split second before her dive

Filipina “iron woman” Romela Osabel did a dash-and-dive stunt to score a home run in the third inning to drive Fate, the lone Filipino team in Hong Kong Softball Association, on May 30 to its second victory in as many meetings over Chinese rival Feliz, 8-4.

Fate shrugged off an early score by Feliz as both teams started slow on a bright and hot Sunday afternoon at Shek Kip Mei in the new season of the HKSA Women’s League tournament.

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The local players took the batter’s stand first as the away team but failed to make a score.

The two teams played defensively, giving no room to either side to score. As a result, neither team was able send a batter to the home base in the first two innings.

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In the third inning, Chan Wing Yee of Feliz roused the Filipinas when she stole the first run to the home base to put the local team ahead, 1-0.

When Fate took over the bat to start its third inning, Osabel performed her spectacular suicide play to cap a home run as the Feliz baseman stood helplessly.

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The players and spectators alike broke into cheers as the athletic Osabel, who also plays baseball and cricket, literally swam on dry ground to produce Fate’s first score that tied the match at 1-1.

Taking the cue from Osabel, a succession of Fate batters, Percy Jayme, Daisy Maano, team captain Don Gaborno and Belinda Ganitano also scored each to close the inning at 5-1 with the Filipinas atop.

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The fourth and fifth innings were a scoreless struggle for Feliz, as none of the Chinese softbelles was able to step on the bases.

Fate likewise failed to produce a score in their fourth inning. But the fighting Filipinas made up for that in their fifth inning when Josel Ondrade, Junalyn Cupag and Maribel Sitchon each scored, taking Fate way ahead at 8-1 at the end of the inning.

Undaunted, the local ladies took their last chance in the sixth inning and made three runs to the home base courtesy of Lee Yuek Heng, Poon Ka Lam and Yuen Ching Yi.

The match ended with a score of 8-4, in favor of the Filipinas. 

Players from both teams strike a friendly pose after the game

For Feliz, their performance last Sunday was visibly better than in their previous match on Mar 21 when they were blanked 11-0 by Fate.

Fate is preparing for its next game slated for June 20 versus Deborah team of the local.

Fate is made up of Filipina domestic helpers who enjoy their free time on the diamond of Shek Kip Mei while practicing and maintaining their physical skills. 

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