2 Filipina helpers detained for alleged ill-treatment of young wards

By Vir B. Lumicao

 

The two helpers appeared in Kowloon City court on separate days

Two Filipina domestic helpers are being held by Kowloon police without bail for allegedly assaulting or ill-treating their young wards.

Today, Dec 14, defendant Rachel Lopez appeared before Kowloon City Magistrate Peony Wong for a bail review hearing. The helper was said to have been captured on video while beating her ward whose age was not mentioned.

But the prosecution said it had not received any bail application and reiterated its opposition to granting the defendant bail to due to the seriousness of her offense.

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Lopez is facing a charge of “assault by those in charge of a child or young person.”

No plea was taken and no details of the charge were read in court. But the court was told Lopez first appeared eight days earlier following her arrest for the offense early this month.

The duty lawyer representing Lopez said his client could increase her bail offer to $1,500 cash, but she made no bail application today. The lawyer reserved his client’s right to reapply for bail within eight days.

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At the same time, the lawyer requested the magistrate to allow Lopez access to her mobile phone so she could contact her friend and ask her to inform her family in the Philippines about her situation.

Magistrate Wong told Lopez the court opposes granting bail to her due to the seriousness of her offense and the strength of evidence against her.

Wong said the defendant was captured on CCTV as she was beating her child ward. But she granted the defendant’s request to access her mobile phone so that she could let her family know about her situation here.

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Wong remanded her in custody and told her to return to the court on Dec 22. The magistrate also told the defendant she can apply for bail at the High Court.

The other Filipina helper who is facing a charge of ill-treating her young ward appeared briefly before Wong on Monday for an update on her case. Again, no details of the case were read out in court.

The prosecution only requested for a further four-week adjournment to finalize their charge against defendant, Myra Villanueva.

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The police are still awaiting a medical report on the alleged victim, a baby, the prosecutor said. 

The defense counsel said Villanueva was being held without bail since her arrest on Oct 23. In the October hearing, the prosecution asked for an adjournment for further investigation, her counsel told Wong.

Villanueva is facing a charge of “ill treatment of a child or young person.” 

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The lawyer said in the previous hearing in November, the prosecution gave the same reason of finalizing the charge in seeking an adjournment.

The magistrate adjourned the case until Jan 10 next year and ordered Villanueva back into custody.

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HK reports 8th Omicron case and 5 new Covid-19 infections

By The SUN 

The 8th Omicron patient had been to various African countries

The Centre for Health Protection has reported its 8^th imported case of the Omicron variant, involving a 50-year-old man who visited various African countries and was confirmed positive for Covid-19 yesterday.

According to a statement released today, Dec 14, by the CHP, a genome sequencing conducted by the Department of Health’s public laboratory found the patient positive for the new variant of concern.

The man arrived in Hong Kong on Dec 10 after visiting Tanzania, South Africa and Kenya and flying in on QR818 from Qatar. He developed symptoms on Dec 12 during his seven-day compulsory quarantine at Penny’s Bay and was found positive on the same day.

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The Ct value for the test after his admission to hospital on Dec 12 was less than 20, which indicated a recent infection, and he tested positive for antibodies.

This was the eight case of Omicron being found among recent arrivals from overseas in Hong Kong. The first two cases were related to South Africa, two from Nigeria, two from United Kingdom and one from the United States.

The Filipina tested negative throughout her quarantine at Penny's Bay

Meanwhile, a Filipina domestic helper who had long ended her 21-day compulsory quarantine and is suspected of being a re-positive case was among five new confirmed cases of Covid-19 reported in Hong Kong today.

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The 34-year-old helper arrived in Hong Kong from the Philippines by flight 5J272 on Nov 17. She tested negative on her arrival test, and in all the six tests conducted during stay at Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre.

On Dec 8 she moved to Winland 800 Hotel in Tsing Yi after completing her quarantine. She underwent compulsory testing at a community testing centre on Dec 12 and the result was preliminary positive but with a low viral load (the Ct value was more than 30). She carried the N501Y mutant strain.

Preliminary testing results showed she likely carried the Alpha variant strain first found in the UK. But the DH is continuing its genome sequencing of her case to exclude the possibility of her carrying the Omicron variant.

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When admitted to hospital, the patient tested negative for Covid-19 while her antibody test was positive. The CHP said that all findings so far indicate that this is a re-positive case.

But as a precaution, the places where she resided and visited in Hong Kong during the incubation period have been included in a compulsory testing notice. Everyone who had been to those places at specified dates need to undergo compulsory testing on or before Dec. 15.

All the four other patients reported today tested positive on their arrival test.

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They include another female patient, aged 21, who was also found to carry the N501Y mutant strain. She flew in from the United States on flight CX845 on Dec 12.

Two other patients both flew in aboard TK083 from Turkey on the same date, after arriving there from Pakistan. The 46-year-old woman and 55-year-old man both carried the L452R mutant strain.

The fifth patient is a 46-year-old man who came from Italy aboard CP156. He also carried the L452R strain but was asymptomatic.

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The new patients took Hong Kong’s total Covid-19 tally to 12,496, including one probable case.

A total of 60 cases have been reported in the past 14 days (Nov 30 to Dec 13) and all of them are imported cases.

Asked about the first case of Omicron being found on the Mainland, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said during a question and answer session with reporters earlier today that she does not see it affecting Hong Kong’s preparations for resuming normal travel across the border.

But Mrs Lam said that she could not provide absolute guarantee that everything would proceed as normal since the whole situation could change very rapidly.

She however, assured, that Hong Kong’s stringent boarding and quarantine measures for travelers from overseas would likely stop Omicron entering the community.

She noted that the new variant is causing concern globally since the daily total number of cases has again surged to over 700,000, with Europe being the most severely affected.

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Workshop tackles depression, anxiety among migrant workers

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Alegre tells participants they shouldn't live in the past so they don't get depressed

Filipina domestic workers suffering from various types of cancer and anxiety shared their experiences on Sunday, Dec 12, during a workshop on coping with stress and depression that a migrant workers’ group organized.

The “Mental Health Talk and Workshop” was held by Social Justice for Migrant Workers at Sai Ying Pun Space to address one of the most pressing problems of the foreign domestic helper community in Hong Kong.

Brenda Alegre, a lecturer in gender studies at the University of Hong Kong, spoke on how the workers can cope with depression and anxiety in their workplace.

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“If you are depressed, you live in the past; if you’re not, you live in the future,” Alegre told the workshop participants who included cancer patients who are either out of work and undergoing treatment, dismissed new workers, and old-timers."

 She said if they are depressed, they must speak to friends and other people who can lead them out of their depression and help them overcome their fear, dread, and uneasiness.

Devi Novianti, an officer of Equal Opportunities Commission, tackled the protection that migrant domestic workers who are sick or suffering from physical or mental disabilities get under Hong Kong laws.

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The last speaker, Welfare Officer Virsie B. Tamayao from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Hong Kong, said OWWA is willing to help Social Justice empower fellow migrant workers so that they in turn can reach others who are suffering from depression.

In between the arrival of the resource speakers, some of the 40 participants shared their experiences as cancer patients, moving the audience to tears.

Marites Palma, Social Justice founder and fellow of Resolve Hong Kong Foundation, an NGO that seeks to empower migrant domestic workers, said the 15 who attended were from peer support groups and 25 were new attendees.

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Elva Caneko, who arrived in Hong Kong on Sept 24 last year, tearfully narrated how, just three months into her employment with a family in Yuen Long, she developed breast cancer.

She believes she got it from being kicked in the chest by her young ward who didn’t like her. Three months after the boy had kicked her, she said she felt intense pain in her breast and a small bump developed, which turned out to be cancerous.

She said she had wanted to go home but was fazed by the thought of paying for the high cost of treatment at home. She decided on a surgery here to remove the cancerous lump.

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“Okay naman sa akin, tapos na akong magpaopera, natanggal na yung bukol sa breast ko. Yung chemo na lang, sana tuluy-tuloy na ang paggaling ko para makapagtrabaho na ako,” Elva said. (I now feel OK after the surgery. The bump on my breast has been removed. It’s just the chemotherapy that I need now. I hope I recover steadily so that I can work again.)  

While she still has an employer on record, Caneko says she is not allowed to work anymore.

Palma says her group is helping Elva with her transportation expenses when she has to go to the hospital for treatment. The money comes from funds donated to the group by kindhearted individuals.

Palma says her group helps pay for some of the expenses of the cancer patients

Another domestic helper, Lilibeth Seraspe, says she suspects she has ovarian cancer after she bled profusely for three months, and only managed to gather enough courage to tell her employer about it recently.

The employer told her to go for a checkup in a hospital and, after several laboratory tests, Lilibeth was admitted for two days. The doctor reportedly asked her if she was willing to go under the knife.

"Siguro may nakitang problema sa ovary ko,” Lilibeth said. She was told to return on Dec 31 for an ultrasound examination.

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She suspects she became stressed herself from comforting a cancer-stricken friend who left Hong Kong this year.

Another sharer of experience was Jeanette Coloma, a migrant worker who holds a degree in engineering. She said she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder for 16 years after her husband left her, but was not aware of it.

She only learned about her illness from her psychologist in Manila, who called her in March this year about her ex-husband filing for annulment.

Jeanette said she would blow up over trivial things that everyone in her family eventually disowned her. As she had a young daughter to support, she came to Hong Kong 12 years ago to work as a domestic helper.

She said she got over her mental condition by talking to psychologists and praying to God. She advised fellow workers like her to talk to God and speak to shrinks about their problems, as that will lead to their healing.

Palma said while the workshop was under way, the participants and group members also got free breast-cancer examination from the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation.

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2 UK arrivals found to carry Omicron variant

By The SUN 

The 2 new Omicron carriers tested positive on arrival from the UK at HK Airport

Two residents who flew in from the United Kingdom on Dec 10 have been found to carry Omicron, bringing the total number of patients with the highly infectious variant to seven.

The Centre for Health Protection made the announcement, as two additional confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported today, Dec 13.

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According to CHP, the two patients from the UK, a 62-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman arrived in Hong Kong together on board flight CX252. They tested positive on their arrival test at HK International Airport, and their cases were reported yesterday.

Both were asymptomatic. However the Ct value for their Covid-19 test after admission to hospital was less than 30, indicating a heavy viral load, although both tested positive for antibodies.

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A genome sequencing of their cases conducted by the Department of Health’s public laboratory confirmed that they carried Omicron, which has been listed by the World Health Organization as a variant of concern.

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Five earlier cases had been detected to have Omicron, including two related to a case from South Africa, two related to Nigeria, and one from the United States.

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The CHP said that as all seven cases were detected at the airport or at a designated quarantine facility, there has been local transmission of the variant in the community.

Meanwhile, one of today’s new confirmed cases involved a 50-year-old man who had been to Tanzania, South Africa and Kenya, before traveling to Hong Kong from Qatar on Dec 10 aboard QR818.

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In line with quarantine restrictions, the patient was sent to Penny’s Bay for the first seven days of his 21-day quarantine, during which he was tested daily. He developed symptoms yesterday and was found infected.

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The other patient is a 75-year-old man from Pakistan who took the EK384 flight to Hong Kong from the United Arab Emirates on Dec 7. He was found to carry the coronavirus with the L452R mutant strain on his third day of quarantine at Silka Far East Hotel in Tsuen Wan.

The additional infections took Hong Kong’s total Covid-19 tally to 12,491, which includes one probable case.

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Cancer-stricken FDW passes on a week after returning home

By Daisy CL Mandap 

Yasis passed on just months after being diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer (file photo from FB)

For more than a month, she fought on bravely against late-stage cancer, and had only one thing in mind – that she could go back home one last time to be with her family.

Luningning C. Yasis, 51, managed to fulfill that when, after several aborted attempts to go home courtesy of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, she was finally able to fly out to Manila on Dec. 3.

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She was taken directly to Rizal Medical Center in Pasig City, where, apparently spent but happy to have attained her wish, she passed away on Dec 10, exactly a week after she touched Philippine soil again. A wake was later held for her at St Peter’s Memorial Chapel in Daet, Camarines Norte.

According to records of the Mission for Migrant Workers Lou was married but childless. She had worked in Hong Kong since 2006, or a total of 15 years.  

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When her previous employment contract expired in late October, Lou moved to another employer and was just waiting for her new visa to be released when she was hit by the shocking news that she had stage 4 abdominal cancer.

With help from the Mission she reluctantly agreed to be admitted to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital on Oct 28 when she started bleeding and had fever.

Lou spent 40 days in Eastern Hospital before she was allowed to go home

On Nov 8, she contacted The SUN to ask if there was a way she could be discharged. “Paulit-ulit lang naman ang ginagawa sa akin,” she said. (They just keep repeating the procedures done on me).

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She was prevailed upon to stay after being told how lucky she was to have people looking after her, even while she no longer had an employment visa, and was not technically entitled to any medical benefit in Hong Kong.

Left unsaid was that she was not in a good shape to go home as she was not even allowed to see visitors. She also had to undergo blood transfusions repeatedly as she kept bleeding and often had fever, suggesting a persistent infection.

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But as she was determined to fly home, Lou tried her best to eat, and would often request friends for dishes that she thought would improve her appetite.

She also cultivated a friendship with Weng, a Filipina overstayer with the same type of cancer, who was equally determined to get well so she could go home and be with her three grown-up kids.

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After she was finally allowed to undergo chemotherapy, Lou again experienced a recurrent fever and nausea that she could barely eat.

Despite this, Lou took time to send out a message asking for prayers for Weng, who had been moved to the intensive care unit. Between the two of them, Weng was more upbeat, but Lou did not seem to have any major difficulty apart from her loss of appetite post-chemo.

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But although she kept turning down offers of home-cooked food to help stimulate her appetite, Lou was visibly gladdened when a friend sent her some soft bread and chilled juice on the eve of her flight home.

“Thank you so much. Ang sarap ng juice, malamig pa,” she said. (The juice was so good as it was still cold).

She also apologized for not responding to earlier messages, saying she had been busy entertaining some student doctors “for educational purposes.”

Her last message was on Dec 2 when again, she mentioned Weng still being in ICU before adding, “Uuwi na po ako pagkatapos ng dalawang postponement.” (After two postponements, I am finally going home).

Having fulfilled her simple wish, Lou must have seen no more reason to keep up her struggle against the disease that put her through so much pain in so short a time.

(Those who wish to send a donation to Lou’s family can do so through GCash No 09215475200 in the name of  her sister, Teresita Yasis Manumbas).

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