OV tally surpasses 2016 turnout as more than 3.8k people voted today

By Daisy CL Mandap

 

A steady stream of voters head to Bayanihan despite the rain

More than 3,800 Filipinos showed up at the Bayanihan Centre today to cast their ballots, pushing the total tally past the turnout recorded in the last presidential election in 2016 – with exactly a week to go in the ongoing Overseas Voting.

According to Consul General Raly Tejada, the 23-day total in the ongoing election is “approximately 48,300” (The Commission on Elections forbids overseas posts from giving exact figures).

“We have already surpassed 2016!,” Congen Tejada exclaimed, obviously elated.

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He had said previously that he was hoping the total turnout would at least hit 50,000, a figure that is definitely within reach at this stage.

In the last general election six years ago, 46,396 out of the 93,978 registered voters had cast their votes, amounting to a 49% turnout.

With a slightly smaller registration figure of 93,265, the current turnout is already at 51.7%.

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There are indications the number could jump further, as some religious groups whose members are usually bused to Bayanihan to cast their ballots at the same time, have yet to make this move.

There are also a number of people whose names were not included in the Certified List of Overseas Voters even if they have receipts showing they had listed up during the two-year registration period which ended in October last year.

Among them is Liezel Lao, who was among those who lined up for hours on the first day of voting on April 10, only to be told by the OV Secretariat that she could not vote as her name was not in the CLOV.

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Lao has been following up on her case since, and is now worried she may end up being disenfranchised because her only remaining day off is on May 8, the day before the OV ends.

Told about her case, Congen Tejada said the Secretariat would follow up with Comelec immediately as only the polling body can authorize a voter’s inclusion in the CLOV.

He hopes Comelec would act quickly on this and similar cases as there is only a week to go before the polls close on May 9.

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The last day of the OV coincides with the day when all of the 67 million registered voters in the Philippines go to polling stations across the country to cast their votes.

Filipinos voting overseas get to elect a president, vice president, a maximum of 12 senators, and one party-list. Those in the Philippines are also able to vote for local officials, including the members of Congress.

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CHP warns of rise in imported cases as tourists start coming into HK

By The SUN

 

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan and Dr Lau Ka-hin give an update on the Covid situation

Health officials have reported 300 new Covid infections Sunday, a drop of about 60 from the previous day. They raised the total infection tally from the Omicron outbreak to 1.191 million.

Among them are 22 imported cases, and the Centre for Health Protection warned the number could go up after Hong Kong’s borders were opened to tourists.

CHP’s Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said, "There would maybe [be] an increasing number of imported cases because of the increasing number of flights or passengers to Hong Kong," she said.

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The imported cases include 14 passengers who arrived on Saturday and tested positive at the airport. One came via flight CX2819 and three on flight CX865 from Vancouver, one on CX881 from Los Angeles, two on SQ882 and five on SQ894 from Singapore, two on AI316 from Indonesia.

Under the relaxed flight suspension rules that took effect Sunday, at least one - flight SQ894 from Singapore - should have been suspended from flying in for five days, but the CHP did not make any such announcement.

The new rules raised the threshold for invoking the flight suspension – at least five passengers testing positive on arrival instead of the previous three – and cut the period of suspension from seven to five days.

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Chuang said the city has so far detected 12 cases with Omicron sub-variants - two BA.5 variants, five BA.2.12.1, and five BA.2.12 cases.

She said the CHP had not seen any notable clinical symptoms from the infected patients, indicating the new Omicron strains may not be more severe or infectious than was previously feared.

But she said the CHP will continue to monitor any related announcements from the World Health Organization.

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Meanwhile, Hospital Authority’s Dr Lau Ka-hin reported five more Covid-related deaths, including a 53-year-old woman who had a brain hemorrhage after fainting and bumping her head at home.

Lau said the woman, who had diabetes, was first taken to United Christian Hospital where a brain scan showed the bleeding in her brain. She was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital where she tested positive for Covid with a low viral load.

Her situation deteriorated until she died on Saturday.

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The number of fatalities from the Omicron outbreak has now gone up to 9,100 with the death rate at 0.76 percent.  

Separately, Lau announced that services at general out-patient clinics will partly resume as the pandemic continues to ease.

He said services will first resume in the evenings and on weekends, before the clinics that had been turned into designated Covid clinics are gradually converted back to providing general outpatient services.

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Lau said the designated Covid clinics have served more than 120,000 patients to date, including 1,700 high-risk patients.

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OV turnout set to eclipse 2016 tally as 3.4k people voted despite rain

By Daisy CL Mandap 

Rainy May Day saw a steady stream of voters heading to Bayanihan

Despite heavy rains that lasted through the day, about 3,400 Filipinos turned up to vote at Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy Town on Sunday, pushing the turnout in the month-long Overseas Voting so far to more than 44,400.

That’s just about 2,000 fewer than the 46,396 votes cast in the last presidential election in 2016, which amounted to 49% of the 93,978 registered voters.

Poll watchers said a queue had formed outside Bayanihan when voting started at 8am, but disappeared only after about two hours. Still, a steady stream of voters ensured the Sunday tally did not fall below expectation.

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On Saturday, an additional 1,200 votes were cast.

Consul General Raly Tejada said, “Hope we could push past 50,000 soon.”

Getting past the total voters’ tally in the hotly contested presidential election in 2016 is impressive in itself, but is made more significant by the fact that the month-long voting which started on April 10 is being held amid the most stringent anti-pandemic restrictions in HK.

A last-minute surge of voters from the El Shaddai Catholic Group and Iglesia ni Kristo who showed up at the polling centre at about 4pm, helped push the number up.

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Consul Bob Quintin, who has been deputized by the Commission on Elections to oversee the 2022 OV in Hong Kong, says more voters from the two religious groups could cast their ballots today, as it has been designated as a statutory holiday following Labour Day.

Members of 2 religious groups arrived in the last hour of voting for the day

The two groups, each with thousands of Filipino members, had always voted as blocs in the past but there has been no clear instruction this time from their leaders in the Philippines on who they should be voting for.

The two main contenders in the presidential race are Vice President Leonor G. Robredo and former Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., who are running alongside Senator Francis Pangilinan and Mayor Sara Duterte, respectively.

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Meanwhile, a small group of women had milled around Bayanihan's entrance shortly after 5pm, hoping to still be allowed inside to vote.

"Sana nag overtime naman sila kahit ilang minuto lang," said one of them. (I wish they had worked overtime even for a few minutes).

Congen Tejada said if there was a need latecomers could be accommodated after 5pm, but ideally they should have at least reached the gate before it was closed. 

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He said Consulate staff helping administer the vote had been "super efficient" that the queues were cleared quickly, and that some of them had skipped taking a holiday so they could be at Bayanihan.

Poll watchers say the voting that has gone on for the past 22 days has been largely uneventful, except for a few odd voters who had kicked up a fuss, claiming the receipt that came out of the vote counting machine did not reflect what they had marked on their ballots.

Among them was one female voter who had claimed that the name of her chosen vice presidential candidate did not come out in her receipt, while another said no party-list name appeared in hers.

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On a few occasions, poll watchers and volunteers would draw the attention of precinct officers about some people showing up to vote wearing shirts with the name or logo of the candidate or party they were supporting, which is against Comelec’s rules.

But all these were settled amicably, with the voter being advised to just cover the offending name or logo with a jacket or a bag while they were in their assigned precincts.

The OV will end on May 9, when all 67 million registered voters in the Philippines get to cast their ballots. On this day, voting at Bayanihan will last until 7pm, two hours longer than for the rest of the voting period.

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3 flights suspended, 10 more Omicron sub-variant cases found

By The SUN

 

CX flights from Sydney and Vancouver are both grounded for a week from today

Three passenger flights from Australia, Thailand and Canada have been banned for a week each, on the eve of relaxation of Hong Kong’s flight suspension rules.

The move came as 363 new Covid-19 cases were reported Saturday, of which 25 were imported.

Suspended from May 1 to 7 are flights CX162 from Sydney, TR600 from Bangkok and CX865 from Vancouver, each of which carried three passengers who tested positive on arrival in Hong Kong.

The first two arrived on Friday, and the third, on Saturday.

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From today, the flight suspension mechanism will only kick in if five passengers who flew in together test positive on arrival. The period of suspension will also be cut to five days instead of seven.

Also starting today, fully vaccinated non-residents will also be allowed to enter Hong Kong, subject to the same seven-day hotel quarantine for all inbound travelers and a negative result for a PCR test taken within 48 hours of boarding their flights.

According to Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection, the newly recorded imported cases included 14 passengers who arrived in Hong Kong on Friday.

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Apart from the six who took TR600 and CX798, there was one Covid carrier each on flight PR300 from Manila and CX798 from Jakarta, two on SQ894 from Singapore, two on EK384 from Dubai via Bangkok, and two on KL819 from Amsterdam.

Dr Chuang also said that among the imported cases recorded in Hong Kong recently, 10 were found to carry the new Omicron sub-variants BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1.

The cases, which involved three males and seven females aged 5 to 66, arrived in Hong Kong from Australia, the United States, Germany, India and Singapore between April 6 and 26.

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Seven of the patients tested positive on arrival while the remaining three tested positive during the compulsory seven-day hotel quarantine.

Chuang and Lau give the daily press briefing on Covid-19

Chuang said the strains are sub-lineages of the BA.2 Omicron variant, and that some studies have shown they are more transmissible.

No similar cases have been found in the community but CHP will continue to monitor the situation.

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The CHP expert said they hope the cases would continue to ease but there is a possibility that they would rebound as the social distancing measures are further relaxed.

"The Omicron variant is infectious. There could be millions of people who haven't been infected and people could be infected even after vaccination,” she warned.

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“We're also facing pressure in terms of imported cases as the global pandemic continues.”

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Central salon, shops targeted in Immigration crackdown on illegal work

 By The SUN

Immigration officers take away one of the suspects (GIS photo)

Another four-day sweep conducted by the Immigration Department aimed at flushing out illegal workers targeted 14 locations in Central, including restaurants, retail shops and a salon.

According to a press statement issued by the government Friday, one suspected illegal worker, one suspected employer and one person found in possession of a Hong Kong ID card belonging to another were arrested during the operation codenamed “Champion.”

The suspected illegal worker is a man aged 38, who holds a recognizance form which prevents him being deported for staying in Hong Kong without a valid visa, but prohibits him from taking up any employment.

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A 47-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of hiring the worker, while the person who was in possession of somebody else’s HKID card is a man aged 51.

The raids were part of territory-wide operation codenamed “Twilight” and “Lightshadow” conducted by Immigration and police officers from Apr 25 to 29.

Apart from the three, eight other suspected illegal workers and four suspected employers were arrested.

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The raids targeted 37 locations, including a car park, food and beverage stalls, a garbage collection depot, premises under renovation, and even residential buildings.

Immigration warns that anyone who violates a condition of stay, including visitors who take up employment, whether paid or unpaid, is liable to prosecution and if convicted, faces a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to two years’ imprisonment.

Aidors and abettors are equally liable to prosecution and penalties.

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The penalty is higher for an illegal immigrant, recognizance holder or overstayer. Offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to three years' imprisonment.

Those who use someone else’s Hong Kong ID card face even harsher penalties, with the maximum fine set at $100,000 and a jail term of up to 10 years.

However, the most severe penalties are reserved for employers of any of these illegal workers.

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Under the Immigration Ordinance, the maximum penalty prescribed for the employer has been raised from $350,000 in fine and three years’ imprisonment to $500,000 in fine and 10 years’ imprisonment.

The director, manager, secretary, partner, or any officer of the company concerned may also bear criminal liability.

In addition, an immediate custodial sentence or imprisonment is prescribed for the employer of an illegal workers in accordance with the sentencing guidelines issued by the High Court.

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According to the court, employers must take all practicable steps to ensure the person is lawfully employable. Apart from inspecting the job applicant’s HK ID card, the employer is duty-bound to make further enquiries to ensure the lawful employability of the person.

If the job-seeker has no HK permanent ID card, the employer is obligated by law to inspect the applicant’s valid travel document. Failure to do this could result in the employer being prosecuted and if found liable, face a maximum fine of $150,000 and jailed for up to a year.

“In that connection, (Immigration) would like to remind all employers not to defy the law by employing illegal workers,” said the government statement.

At the same time, Immigration will conduct initial screening of “vulnerable persons, including illegal workers, illegal immigrants, sex workers and foreign domestic helpers who are arrested during any operation” to determine whether they are trafficking in persons (TIP) victims.

Identified TIP victims will be provided with various forms of support and assistance, including urgent intervention, medical services, counselling, shelter or temporary accommodation and other support services.

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High Court throws out retired British doctor's conviction for sexual assault on Pinay DH

 

A retired British doctor sentenced to 30  months’ jail for two cases of sexual assault on his Filipina domestic helper, has had his conviction and sentence quashed by the High Court.

Brian Drew Apthorp, 85, had appealed last July's judgment of Eastern Court Magistrate Daniel Tang on the ground that his lawyer was not allowed to cross-examine the alleged victim, after he had done so himself in the first two days of his trial.

Court of First Instance Judge Esther Toh agreed with Apthorp in a decision handed down on  April 29.

“Because of that refusal, justice had not been seen to be done, and therefore, the conviction is clearly unsafe and unsatisfactory,” Judge Toh said.

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“Therefore,” she added, “the appeal against conviction is allowed, the conviction and sentences are quashed.”

While Apthorp was cleared of the two sexual assaults, he faces another set of charges involving the same domestic helper, identified as CB, and at least two other Filipinas who had also worked for him and were shown on video during his trial, to have engaged in sexual acts with him.

CFI Judge Russell Coleman, in a separate decision on April 23, ordered the police to reinvestigate CB’s complaint to look into whether she and the two others were also victims of sex trafficking and forced labor.

 “… I think the facts of the CB case do establish the ‘causal connection’ between the particular failures in the case and the lack of a bespoke criminal offence,” said Judge Coleman.

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He also said such legislation should not only cover FDHs as urged by CB’s counsel, Abraham Chan, SC, but all other people who might be victims of forced labor and exploitation under section 4 of the Bill of Rights.

In her decision, Judge Toh noted that the same domestic helper, whom she identified as X, started working  for Arthorp on Sept. 5, 2018 as a replacement for another Filipina named Janice.

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X complained that the retired doctor conducted an examination of her private part in his bedroom without her consent.

When she told Janice about it, the latter explained that it was a pap smear test which she herself underwent.

X also complained that after regular massages, she was forced by Arthorp to masturbate him. She presented video clips she filmed herself, showing her massaging Arthorp, who was naked. In one of the videos, he was shown asking her to hold his penis.

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During his trial, Apthorp did not give evidence or present witnesses. He cross-examined X  for two days before the court adjourned.

When the trial resumed, Apthorp brought a solicitor who applied to have X recalled for further cross-examination.

But Magistrate Tang refused, saying that since X had been cross-examined and re-examined, he was reluctant to recall her.  Besides, the lawyer did not cite authority on which to base his request.

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Magistrate Tang also cited his discretionary power, to which Judge Toh agreed, to recall a witness and that his primary concern was the interests of justice.

He also asked Apthorp several times early in the case if he needed a lawyer, and that he had given him enough time and chance to cross-examine X and that the court had given him assistance when necessary.

But to Judge Toh, in sexual assault cases such as this where there are no witnesses, it is essential to test the credibility of the accuser, which Arthorp had failed to do when he defended himself.

“It is clear that this is not the type of case where merely putting the case for the defence to X would be anywhere near sufficient for the Appellant to get a fair trial.  It is clear with the many issues involved that a forensic cross-examination was required in the circumstances, particularly when it is alleged that X had demanded monetary compensation from the Appellant as well,” she said.

“It is a difficult case for a defendant to manage on his own in the best of circumstances.  But when one has a defendant with early stage of Alzheimer’s disease and with the complicated factual background in this case, it became more apparent that he required a lawyer in order to fully put his case across,” she added. 

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