1,255 fined over holiday for not wearing face mask, violating gathering rule

 

Govt enforcers on education campaign among FDHs on their day off

The government reminder was simple but serious: do not gather in groups of more than two people and wear face masks when in public places during the Easter holidays to avoid catching Covid-19.

But hundreds of people paid no heed.

They were caught by teams of personnel from Hong Kong Police Force, the Labour Department, District Offices, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department who roamed various public places during the holidays.

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This, amid accusations of discrimination when Labour addressed a reminder to foreign domestic helpers that these teams would be watching for violations in various public places they frequent in Central and Western, Wan Chai, Eastern, Yau Tsim, Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po, Shatin, Sai Kung and Tsuen Wan districts.

Yesterday, the Police reported issuing fixed penalty tickets to 1,255 people from April 15 to 18; they were each fined $5,000. Of this total, 584 violated the law that prohibits gatherings of more than two people, and 671 were caught not wearing face masks.

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In enforcing the Prevention and Control of Disease (Prohibition on Group Gathering) Regulation (Cap. 599G), the Police also reported 442 inspections, 10 reminders and 15 prosecutions.

In enforcing the Prevention and Control of Disease (Wearing of Mask) Regulation (Cap. 599I), the Police also conducted 526 inspections and issued 10 reminders.

The Police figures had no separate FDH numbers.

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But a report of the FEHD, which conducted joint operations the Police, clearly indicated that it concentrated on food businesses violating the Prevention and Control of Disease Regulation provisions on business and premises, vaccine pass and more.

It said FEHD and police inspected 93 catering and seven other premises during the joint operations on April 17; and the FEHD on its own inspected 476 catering premises and 112 other premises.

The FEHD has initiated prosecution against operators of 13 catering premises suspected of breaching the regulations. 

Among these, seven cases were for failing to wear masks inside the premises, four for not putting  distance or partition between customers, one involved customer not scanning the "LeaveHomeSafe" app, and one of not ensuring compliance with a minimum of six air changes per hour or operating air purifiers that do not meet specifications.

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Aside from penalizing the establishments, the FEHD also required them to take corresponding measures for reducing the risk of disease transmission.

One individual who failed to scan his "LeaveHomeSafe" and vaccine pass was also penalized with a fine of $5,000. Another 10 persons were fined $5,000 for public cleanliness offenses or obstruction in public places.

For its part, the LCSD reported that 34 persons were caught violating the grouping and face mask rules in the parks and areas under its supervision, and fined $5,000.

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They were the only ones penalized by LCSD after giving verbal advice 2,610 times during about 5,120 patrols of venues by the LCSD staff since April 15.

Avoiding social gatherings is of utmost importance in preventing the ongoing spread of the pandemic. The LCSD spokesman asks members of the public to stay vigilant and comply with the relevant regulations on prevention and control of disease in a concerted and persistent manner. Enforcement actions will be taken by the LCSD when irregularities are found.

CG rejects Bayan Muna reps’ claim of ‘chaotic’ overseas voting in HK

By Daisy CL Mandap

 

The House Resolution called the first day of overseas voting in HK 'chaotic'

Consul General Raly Tejada has confirmed his online participation today in a House of Representatives inquiry into the alleged “chaotic and disorganized ” first day of overseas voting in Hong Kong and several overseas posts.

House Resolution No 2544 dated Apr 12 was filed by Bayan Muna representatives Ferdinand R. Gaite, Eufemia C. Cullamat and Carlos Isagani T. Zarate, and published in mainstream media in Manila on Monday.

In it, the authors said the Apr 10 opening of overseas voting for Filipinos in many places was “marred with confusion and met with concerns by overseas Filipino workers.”

It singled out Hong Kong as the place where thousands of workers were unable to vote on the first day because of inadequate vote counting machines (VCMs) and precincts, causing a long queue of voters. Instead of the previous 10 precincts, only five had been set up that day.

Further, the resolution cited a report from United Filipinos (Migrante) Hong Kong chair Dolores Balladares Pelaez saying that Congen Tejada had announced that only 3,000 people could cast their votes that day. As a result, only 3,285 were able to vote, said the motion.

This was followed by a statement released on Tuesday evening by Bayan Muna HK which Pelaez also chairs, where it was claimed that voter disenfranchisement continued in Hong Kong after two VCMs malfunctioned.

The police team leader asked CG to stop the queueing at 11:30am on the first day 

In response, a surprised Congen Tejada said, “On the contrary napakaayos natin and organized despite facing some challenges. I really feel for my staff who have been working so hard to ensure that we have a successful election."

“Maging Filipino community sa Hong Kong super proud ako kasi di lang disiplinado kundi talagang matiisin sila kahit na gaano kahaba ang pila.” (I am also super proud of the Filipino community in Hong Kong because they are not only disciplined they have also been patient, even when the queues were long).

“And it shows in the record turnout.”

Indeed, given the strict pandemic controls being enforced by the police and the sorely inadequate VCMs commissioned for use in Hong Kong initially, the number of voters on each day has been high compared to recent overseas voting exercises.

For the past nine days of voting the daily turnout never dipped to below 1,000 and last Sunday peaked to more than 5,000, despite a queue that extended up to three kilometres away at one point.

A sparse crowd on Tuesday still resulted in a total turnout of nearly 1,300

Adding Tuesday’s tally of nearly 1,300 the total turnout so far should be well over 25,000. With three more Sundays to go plus a statutory holiday on May 1, this puts Hong Kong on track to match, if not exceed its 45,000 turnout in the last presidential election in 2016.

This is despite two of the additional five VCMs put in place starting Tuesday last week becoming totally unusable by Sunday. The voters assigned to the two affected precincts were still able to vote, though, even if the waiting time for them became much longer.

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Thus, Congen Tejada said, “Wala namang disenfranchisement – lahat naman nakaboto. Wala akong narinig kahit isa sa ating Filcom na nagreklamo. Mostly ay masaya naman.”

(There was no disenfranchisement at all, everybody got to vote. Not one among our Filcom members complained. Most of them were happy).

He also reiterated that the Consulate had always insisted on getting no less than the 10 VCMs that had always been assigned to Hong Kong previously, especially since the total number of registered voters had swelled to a record 93,625 for this election.

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However, Comelec initially determined that five were enough, based on their estimation that one machine could handle 20,000 ballots.

“Never kaming nag request ng lesser number ng VCMs. Di namin balak pahirapan ang aming mga sarili at Filcom,” he said. (We never requested for a lesser number of VCMs. We do not wish to make things difficult for us and for the Filcom).

Even the back area of Bayanihan is occupied when there is an overflow from the crowd of voters

Earlier, Congen said he had already asked Comelec to send more VCMs to Hong Kong to replace those that have conked out, and maybe even have a spare or two on standby.

In her statement, Pelaez also complained of the Consulate’s recent practice of giving only ballpark figures for the daily turnout, saying it was not like an exit poll that could influence voters.

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Pelaez said getting an accurate number each day could give the community a better idea of how many people are likely to have voted at the end of the exercise.

Congen Tejada did not dispute this, but reiterated that it was Comelec which instructed all overseas posts not to disclose the exact number of people who voted each day.

In the House resolution, the proponents also dealt with problems reported from places like Dubai where the first day of election resembled that of Hong Kong. People queued up for up to five hours to vote, and police reprimanded them for not keeping social distancing.

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Relatively small matters like voters wearing campaign shirts inside the polling place and loud campaigning from places near precincts were also reported.

In Saudi Arabia, voters complained about not being given indelible ink on their fingers to indicate that they had voted while in many countries like Japan, the United States and Italy, the mailed ballots were all delayed.

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Over in Shanghai, no voting could take place because of the citywide lockdown due to Covid, while in France the Philippine Embassy had reportedly shut down, depriving Filipinos living there of their right to vote.

14 students and 1 teacher test positive for Covid as schools reopen

By The SUN

 

Today's press briefing was led by CHP controller Dr Tsui (2nd from left)

A total of 600 coronavirus cases were confirmed Tuesday, including 14 students and one teacher who tested positive on rapid antigen tests ahead of the resumption of face-to-face classes.

Dr Edwin Tsui, controller of the Centre for Health Protection said two primary schools reported having one student each who tested positive, while 12 students and one teacher in international schools were also found infected.

Starting today, students and school staff are required to undergo rapid tests before entering the campus each day. Tsui said those who test positive should not attend school and isolate, whether at home or at a community facility.

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He also disclosed that the government has launched a registration system for recovered patients so they can download a QR code that will serve as their vaccine pass for six months after recovery.

Within this period, the patient should get a new vaccine dose depending on experts’ recommendation, which could be between 30 and 150 days after recovery.

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Among the newly confirmed cases, 320 were confirmed through PCR tests while 280 were reported by residents who conducted rapid self-tests.

Eleven of the cases were imported, including five detected on arrival at the airport and one involving a 15-year-old boy who tested positive 12 days after arriving from Australia.

CHP’s Dr Albert Au said the boy had a low viral load, indicating it could be a re-positive case.

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Health authorities suspended a SCOOT flight from Singapore from one week starting today, after two of its passengers tested positive on arrival in Hong Kong yesterday, while one patient did not comply with pre-boarding requirements.

The total death toll from the fifth wave of the infection now stands at 1.18 million, with 8,963 related deaths.

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Dr Sara Ho of the Hospital Authority said 17 additional deaths were reported today, including 16 patients who passed away yesterday. One other death involving a 72-year-old man was not reported on time.

The youngest patient was a 33-year-old man who had a history of drug abuse and severe autoimmune deficiency. He was admitted to hospital with fever, diarrhea and low blood pressure, and after receiving treatment in intensive care, passed away Monday.

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Ho said 8,438 patients are receiving treatment in public hospitals and infection control centres. Among them 50 are in intensive care, including four deemed critical today, while two others are in serious condition.

Pinoy ikinulong ng 16 buwan dahil sa 'loitering' at overstaying

Ang Tsuen Wan court, kung saan dininig ang kaso laban sa Pilipino

Isang dating domestic helper na una nang umamin sa salang overstaying at “loitering” matapos mahuli sa bubong ng isang gusali sa Yuen Long, ang ipinakulong ng 16 na buwan kanina.

Hawak ang Bibliya na bigay ng isang pari habang siya ay nakakulong, kalmadong tinanggap ni Wilbert M. Abad ang sentensiyang ibinaba ni Deputy District Judge C H. Li sa Tsuen Wan court.

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Dahil nakulong na si Abad nang 13 buwan, tinataya ng kanyang abugado na mahigit isang buwan na lang ang ilalagi niya sa loob, kapag nabawas ng Correctional Services Department ang mga piyesta opisyal at Linggo sa sentensiya.

Nagsimula ang kaso ni Abad Oct. 15, 2020 nang mahuli siya sa bubong ng isang gusali kung saan ang isang residente ay sumigaw para humingi ng tulong matapos siyang mamataan. (Basahin ang naunang report ng The SUN: https://www.sunwebhk.com/2022/04/filipino-caught-on-roof-found-guilty-of.html).

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Unang kinasuhan ng pulis si Abad ng “burglary” ngunit hindi ito napatunayan ng taga-usig dahil wala naman siyang sandata, hindi pilit nagbukas ng kahit anong pinto o bintana at hindi rin siya nanakit o gumawa ng pinsala.

Ipinalit ang kasong “loitering”, na kanyang inamin sa pagdinig sa West Kowloon Law Courts noong ika- 7 ng Abril.

Para dito ay pinarusahan siya ni Judge Li ng 12 buwang pagkakakulong.

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Matapos makapagpiyansa si Abad sa naunang kaso, dumulog naman siya sa pulis noong March 19, 2021 upang magreklamo na binugbog siya ng isang grupo ng kalalakihan.

Nang irepaso ang kanyang record, nadiskubreng siya ay overstaying na mula pa noong May 7, 2013, o tumira siya sa Hong Kong nang walang visa sa loob ng pitong taon, 10 buwan at walong araw.

Ang ipinataw na parusa dito ay apat na buwang pagkakakulong.

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Iniutos ni  Li na pagsilbihan ni Abad ang dalawang parusa nang hiwalay at magkasunod.

Samantala, sa hiwalay na kasong dininig sa West Kowloon Courts, binasahan ng demandang burglary si Maricris Sayco, 45, isang domestic helper.

Inakusahan siyang pumasok sa isang bahay sa Sham Shui Po  noong Nov. 1, 2021 at nagnakaw ng dalawang relo, dalawang iPhone, isang power bank at isang laptop computer.

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Dahil sa bigat ng kaso, iniakyat ito ni Magistrate Minnie Wai Lai-man sa District Court, upang dinggin sa May 3. 

Nakakalaya si Sayco sa piyansang $10,000.

2.6k votes cast on 9th day of overseas voting for Filipinos in HK

 By Daisy CL Mandap

 

Today's early morning crowd inside Bayanihan Centre (from Congen Raly Tejada's FB post)

Despite being hampered by some glitches, overseas voting for the 2022 presidential election in the Philippines was generally smooth today at the Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy Town.

According to Consul General Raly Tejada, the day’s turnout was about 2,600 – which was half of Sunday’s tally, but still sizeable considering that Easter Monday is a general, and not a statutory holiday, when foreign domestic workers are entitled to take the day off.

Overall, a rough estimate of the cumulative total from nine days of overseas voting is now nearly 24,000. No exact figure could be drawn because the Commission on Elections has prohibited overseas posts from supplying actual daily tally to the public.

Photos shared by Congen Tejada on his Facebook account showed a queue had formed outside Bayanihan at about 9:45am, although he said it was short and there was a steady stream of voters arriving at the polling venue.

Some of the day’s voters posted on Facebook that voting went on smoothly, with each of them spending only an average of 30 minutes to queue up and cast their ballots.

But two precincts on the sixth floor remained closed today, after their vote-counting machines broke down yesterday.

One voter said those assigned to the two precincts had to be diverted to others on the lower floors so they could cast their ballots. But one poll watcher said the machine had started acting up as early as Friday.

Acknowledging the machine breakdown, Congen Tejada said yesterday that they were being fixed, and that the Commission on Elections in the Philippines had assured him that new machines will be sent to Hong Kong by tomorrow, Wednesday.

Having all 10 precincts open could greatly reduce the waiting time of voters (CG Tejada's photo)

It was only a week ago that the Comelec allowed the Consulate to restore Hong Kong’s 10 precincts after reducing them earlier to just five.

As a result, thousands of voters had to be turned away on the first day of voting on Apr 10 after police were spooked by the throng that descended on Bayanihan, hoping to be among the first to cast their ballots.

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Poll watchers also reported some odd events that happened during the day, like when a ballot that bore a serial number different from those assigned to the cluster it came from was repeatedly rejected by the VCM.

“Nahalo daw,” (It had been mixed in) said the watcher, referring to the explanation given by the special board of election inspectors (SBEIs) at the precinct.

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But the board members took note of the problem and asked the poll watchers to witness them canceling the spoiled ballot and issuing a new one to the voter.

The VCM also rejected some ballots initially, but all got through eventually.

The queue outside Bayanihan at about 9:45am

Other than this, the poll watchers said they managed to report voters who were taking selfies inside the precincts, or wearing shirts that bore the names or logos of their preferred candidate.

Poll officers have repeatedly advised people not to go to Bayanihan displaying campaign materials or wearing shirts that identify their chosen candidates. But they can vote in whatever color of clothing they prefer.

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One voter caused a commotion in one of the precincts on the fifth floor after he angrily proclaimed that the receipt he got after he cast his ballot did not accurately reflect his votes.

The voter claimed his receipt showed he did not vote for a vice-president and party-list and chose only six senators, when he supposedly chose a complete set of candidates.

But when the SBEI chair asked the voter if he wanted to file a complaint he said no. He also could not answer immediately whose names were not shown on his ballot receipt, so the observer said it looked like the voter was just trying to create a scene.

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Another complaint pertained to an elderly Filipina who loudly proclaimed to everyone on the bus she took going home from Bayanihan that she was a volunteer but was a rabid supporter of a presidential candidate.

Throughout the bus journey, she narrated events that supposedly happened inside Bayanihan, like when a vote supposedly cast in her candidate’s favor was not reflected in the ballot receipt, suggesting that cheating was going on. Despite this, she predicted a landslide win for her candidate.

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Consul Bob Quintin, who heads the electoral process in Hong Kong, has promised to look into the complaint and take action if necessary.

Imported Covid infection detected 12 days after arrival as cases drop to 613

By The SUN 

Dr Au of CHP and Dr Ho of HA report on the latest Covid-19 situation

Hong Kong has recorded 613 new Covid-19 cases Monday, the fourth straight day that the infection figure has dropped to below 1,000.

The new cases included 316 detected by PCR tests, and 297 were reported by people who did rapid antigen tests on their own.

Among them were 13 imported cases, including one picked up at a community testing centre 12 days after the patient’s arrival in Hong Kong.

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Dr Albert Au of the Centre for Health Protection said it’s believed that the infection of the 10-year-old patient is a re-positive case as she had a low viral load and her family members all tested negative for the virus.

He declined a suggestion during the press conference that the seven-day hotel quarantine for all incoming travellers be extended anew to 14 days, saying he believes the current regulation is safe as most of imported cases are detected shortly after arrival.

Au also announced that all Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul will be suspended for a week or until Apr 24, after four passengers on the flight yesterday tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival.

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He said a similar suspension will be imposed on the Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur as one of its passengers tested positive on arrival while three did not comply with pre-boarding requirements.

Meanwhile, Dr Sara Ho of the Hospital Authority reported that 20 more patients with Covid had died, including 17 who passed away in public hospitals in the past 24 hours.

So far, 1.18 infections and 8,946 deaths have been recorded in the fifth wave of the pandemic.

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Earlier, government health adviser Ivan Hung has said the daily caseload may continue to drop until it reaches double digits, but it is not likely a zero infection rate will be achieved.

The Hong Kong University expert said there could be a slight rise in the number of infections after the Easter holiday, but the downward trend will continue.

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He called on all those eligible, particularly the elderly and children, to get a Covid-19 vaccine as soon as possible, saying a high vaccination rate will benefit everyone in the community.

Hung also said that around three percent of patients  from the fifth wave will suffer from long Covid, which is much lower than the average overseas ratio of 10 to 20 percent.

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Long Covid means patients will continue to experience symptoms weeks or months after recovery.

He said this was because local patients are sent to hospitals at the early stage of infection.

Record-high ‘5k plus’ turnout on second Sunday of overseas voting in HK

By Daisy CL Mandap

It took most voters around six hours of queuing to get to the gates of the Bayanihan polling centre

More than 5,000 Filipinos who queued up an average of six hours managed to cast their ballots at the Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy Town on Sunday, Apr 17, on the second Sunday of the overseas voting in Hong Kong.

This was according to Consul General Raly Tejada, who has been constrained by what he said was a new resolution by the Commission on Elections prohibiting overseas posts from providing the exact daily turnout figure.

The total tally far exceeds the record for the 2022 election set last Friday, when Congen Tejada said more than 3,400 people cast their ballots. On Saturday, the turnout was “almost 3,000”.

Given all these figures, the total turnout for the past eight days of voting is now at least 21,292.

Staff and volunteers try to let in as many people as possible inside Bayanihan

At this rate, and given that there are three more Sundays to go plus a statutory holiday on May 1, the final turnout could easily exceed the 45,561 votes cast - or 49% of the registered voters - posted in the 2016 presidential election.

However, the all-time record turnout remains the 66,500 votes cast in the first overseas voting in 2004, when manual voting was still in force. The figure represented 75% of the 89,000 registered voters that year.

Voters lined up to as far as 3 kilometres away

Sunday’s record tally was reached despite an advisory from the Consulate by midday for people to consider going back in the afternoon to queue because the line had by then extended to Mount Davis Path, which is about 3 km away.

The appeal set off a buzz that the queuing was being stopped again at the police request. Not a few people who were about to set off towards the tail-end of the line had second thoughts about continuing.

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But this was immediately disproved by Congen Tejada in a text message.

“It’s not true. I talked to them,” he said. “Nakiusap lang tayo for them to come back na lang sana mamayang hapon.” (We just appealed to them to come back, if possible, later in the afternoon).

The previous Sunday, the police asked Congen Tejada to cut off the queue less than four hours after the polls opened, saying they could no longer control the crowd. Despite this, the turnout was a remarkable 3,285.

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Another reason for the request was because one of the vote counting machines being used in precinct 9 had broken down, forcing many of the voters there to wait even longer than usual to cast their ballots.

As a stop-gap measure, Consul Bob Quintin who is deputized by Comelec to oversee the voting in Hong Kong, had to escort the voters in batches of five to different precincts so they could fill in the ballots there and feed them into the designated VCM.

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Congen Tejada assured that the machine was being fixed, and that Comelec had assured them that additional VCMs would be sent by Wednesday.

“Hopefully they would arrive soon so we can replace the VCM that malfunctioned,” he said.

The crush inside Precinct 9, where the vote counting machine conked out

Despite the seemingly endless queue and the hiccup with the VCM, the voting went on smoothly, with only one voter being led away from her precinct after apparently feeling faint from having stood for a long time and passing up on lunch.

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One Filipina who stood by precinct no 9 at about 3:30pm said she had queued up as early at 9:30am, and managed to last only because she had brought some “suman” (sticky rice) which she munched on along the way.

Others said they were more tired than hungry, and wished they could at least sit down when they got to Bayanihan.

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By around 4:45pm, the line outside the polling centre had disappeared as if by magic. Three wise voters took this as an opportunity to get to the gates before the official closing time without having to queue. They managed to get through.

Voter search desks closed shortly after 5pm 

Then, at exactly 5pm, volunteer Marites Nuval, president of Global Alliance, pushed the iron gate close, signaling the end of another day of voting.

The overseas voting for all Filipinos abroad has been set from Apr 10 to May 9. In the Philippines, some 67 million registered voters will get to cast their votes nationwide only on that final day.

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While voters in the Philippines get to elect both national and local officials, overseas electors can only vote for a president, vice-president, 12 senators and one partylist.