Filipinos in Macau ordered to take daily nucleic acid tests

By The SUN

 

Filipinos in Macau have been identified as 'key group with high infection rate' (File)

All Philippine passport holders in Macau – including residents – are being required to take a daily nucleic acid test (NAT or PCR in Hong Kong) starting today, Friday.

According to Leong Iek Hou, head of the Health Bureau’s communicable disease prevention and control division, 171 of Macau’s 1,795 (or roughly 9.5%) confirmed Covid-19 cases are Philippine passport holders, so the Filipino community has been classified as a key group with a high infection rate.

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The city government has so far identified eight of such key groups, which also include domestic helper who live with their employers.

All people who go to work will also be required to take a NAT every two days.

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Later this afternoon, the Macau government said in a statement that mandatory NAT was also being imposed for around 35,000 people who live in key areas around Rua do Seminario, Rua da Praia do Manduco, Camões Garden and San Kio, or anyone who has stayed there for more than 30 minutes since 18 July.

The daily NAT will last for three days, or until Sunday, and will include children above the age of three, the elderly and the infirm.

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A text message has been sent to people living in the designated areas reminding them to book for the NATs. The Macao Health Code will turn yellow on a subsequent day for those who do not get tested as required.

For the rest of the people in the enclave, a daily rapid antigen test is required from tomorrow. They must declare the results in a declaration platform, otherwise their health code will turn yellow, and they will not be allowed to enter certain venues.

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The stepped-up testing was announced as Macau recorded its sixth Covid-19 death, involving an unvaccinated 93-year-old man who succumbed to respiratory problems early this morning. He was diagnosed with pneumonia on Jul 9 but his family declined medical treatment.

After Macau’s 12^th round of testing ended at 3pm today, a total of 589,014 people had been tested and only one positive result was obtained from each of the pooled sample the 10+1 samples.

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They took the number of infections from the current outbreak to 633.

However, health workers are following up 22,396 cases and just under 3,000 remain in hospitals for medical observation.

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People who sell their ATMs to scammers are not victims, says magistrate

By Daisy CL Mandap

 

Police stand behind the evidence gathered from an earlier money laundering scam (File)

Three Filipina domestic workers who admitted handing over their ATM cards to people who used them to launder money from illegal acts are not victims, an Eastern Court magistrate said yesterday, Jul 21, while listening to mitigation pleas from their lawyers.

Magistrate Edward Wong sternly rebuked one of the lawyers by saying that the defendants who admitted being paid between $1,000 and $3,000 in exchange for handing over their ATM cards were not the victims that he tried to make them appear.

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“I do not accept that they are victims, they just did not realize the gravity of their offence,” said Magistrate Wong. “If they were truly victims they would not have received any reward for their illegal act.”

“Do not overstate your mitigation.”

Magistrate Wong ordered the three Filipinas detained immediately pending their sentencing on Jul 29.

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Fatima Sumcio, 47, Judyline Astronomo, 46, and Ayishah Barton, 40, each admitted a count of dealing with property known or believed to be proceeds of a crime. Their HSBC accounts were used to launder stolen money amounting to between $247,000 and more than $1,000,000.

They were charged alongside Hazel V. Gepulgani, 33, who pleaded not guilty to the same charge; and Marissa C. Mesa, 46, who asked for more time to study the case against her. Both will appear in court again on Sept 1.

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Gepulgani’s bail of $1,600 and Mesa’s of $2,000 were extended until their next court appearance.

The prosecution alleged that all five defendants allowed their HSBC ATMs to be used in laundering more than $2,400,000 obtained by unidentified individuals through a so-called love scam.

The victim in the case was said to be a local woman who was duped into sending money to a man who introduced himself to her as a pilot based in the United States. After wooing her, the scammer told her he was sending a parcel from the US for which she had to pay import duties.

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In Gepulgani’s case, the amount allegedly transferred to her HSBC account between Jun 13 -18 2020 was $281,400. Mesa’s HSBC account was said to have been used to launder a total amount of $1,075,781 between Apr 21, 2020 and May 25, 2020.

Sumcio’s account was used to launder $1,141,700 between Apr 17 and May 30, 2020; Astronomo’s a total of $569,600 between May 6 to 12, 2020, while Barton’s, a total of $247,100 between Jun 24 and Jul 2, 2020.

All the said accounts were almost emptied as soon as the illicit transfers were made.

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In mitigation, Sumcio’s lawyer said she had been working a foreign domestic helper in Hong Kong for the past 16 years, earning the minimum wage of $4,630. She is married and has a son aged 22 and a daughter aged 18.

Astronomo, on the other hand, has been separated from her husband and provides solely for her 22 year-old son and a 72-year-old mother with hypertension. She has worked in Hong Kong for three years.

Barton’s lawyer said she is a single mother of three young boys aged between 8 and 15, and earns about $5,000 a month as a domestic worker. She was remorseful and had promised not to re-offend.

In a bid to get their respective sentences reduced, the employers of the three accused all showed up in court to show support. Barton’s even sent a letter to the magistrate to help her get a lower sentence.

But their appeals for leniency did not seem to have an immediate effect. Magistrate Wong immediately canceled their bail and ordered them remanded in jail until their next court appearance, leaving the three visibly shaken and in tears.

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Konsultasyon para sa FDH minimum wage, sinimulan muli

 

Ang grupo ng mga migrante at mga tumutulong sa kanila ang kasama sa konsultasyon

Inumpisahan ngayong araw ng pamahalaan ng Hong Kong ang pagkunsulta sa iba-ibang grupo para sa tamang halaga ng minimum allowable wage o pinakamababang pasweldo para sa mga foreign domestic helpers.

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Kabilang sa mga dumalo sa pagpupulong na ginawa sa opisina ng Labour Department sa Sheung Wan ngayong araw ng Huwebes ang mga kinatawan ng Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB) at mga non-government organizations katulad ng Mission for Migrant Workers at Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge.

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Kasama ng AMCB ang iba-ibang grupo ng mga migranteng Pilipino katulad ng Unifil Migrante Hong Kong, Gabriela HK at Filipino Migrant Workers Union sa paghiling na itaas ang pinakamababang sahod ng mga FDH sa $6,014 at $3,037 naman para sa food allowance.

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Ang kasalukuyang MAW na $4,630 ay hindi na itinaas simula noong 2019, samantalang ang dating food allowance ay itinaas sa $1,121 noong 2020 at sa $1,173 naman noong nakaraang taon.

Pero ayon sa balita ng mga employment agency, ang mga datihan nang mga FDH sa Hong Kong ay kumikita na ngayon ng di bababa sa $5,500 kada buwan dahil sa kakulangan ng mga migranteng manggagawa simula nang pumutok ang pandemya.

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HK’s Covid tally jumps to more than 4,000

By The SUN

 

Care home staff may be asked to do more PCR tests to halt the rise in infections (File)

Health officials reported a total of 4,375 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, marking the first time it topped the 4,000-mark since Apr 2, when the unprecedented surge in the fifth wave of the pandemic began easing up.

Three related deaths were also reported, involving one man and two women aged 93 to 99, who all suffered from hypertension. The death tally in the fifth wave now stands at 9,235.  

The Centre for Health Protection said the daily infection tally has been on the upward trend in the past few weeks.

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"There are no signs of a decrease in numbers. Maybe we have not yet seen the peak," said CHP’s Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan at today’s press briefing.

Chuang said the government is considering asking care home staff to undergo more frequent PCR testing on top of their daily antigen tests, to help prevent outbreaks.

Hospital staff who look after vulnerable patients have already been told to conform to this additional requirement.

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Among the new cases, 4,076 were locally transmitted, including 1,496 confirmed via PCR tests and 2,580 verified positive RAT results.

The other 299 infections were imported cases - 140 were detected at the airport, 113 at quarantine hotels, and 46 post-quarantine.

Chuang said that as of Tuesday, the city has recorded 1,149 suspected cases of BA.2.12.1 and 403 suspected cases of BA.4 or BA.5.  

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She said a high vaccination rate and infections will build mixed immunity, citing the World Health Organization.

Several public health experts are now calling on the government to gradually lift social-distancing measures to develop this so-called hybrid immunity, which is attained when a person is infected with the virus before or after receiving a vaccine dose.

Meanwhile, the infection tally from schools rose to 414 today, involving 313 students and 84 staff in 355 schools.

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Two schools were told to each suspend a class for a week after a number of students and teachers tested positive.

Chuang said authorities have stepped up mandatory testing, mostly at residential buildings, as they were found to have worse situations.

A total of 1,233 patients are now looked after at public hospitals, including 18 who are in critical condition and 25 who are seriously ill. Five of the critically ill patients are in intensive care units.

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New law against cybercrime proposed

 

Cybercrime is not sufficiently covered by existing laws in Hong Kong

The Law Reform Commission has proposed the enactment of a law that will deal specifically with cybercrime, or criminal activities that involve the computer, the internet and the rest of the information technology.

In a consultation paper it published today, the LRC said the new law should protect the public’s interest and right not to be disturbed or attacked when using or operating their computer system.

The LRC proposed five kinds of cybercrime:

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• Illegal access to program or data.
• Illegal interception of computer data.
• Illegal interference of computer data.
• Illegal interference of computer system.
• Making available or possessing a device or data for committing a crime.

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These crimes are not sufficiently covered by the two Hong Kong laws that are relevant to these types of crime -- the Crimes Ordinance and the Telecommunications Ordinance.

"We felt that it's time to update our whole cybercrime approach, to be consistent with other jurisdictions to put it into a specific set of ordinance to cover five categories of cybercrime," said senior counsel Derek Chan, a member of the commission's cybercrime sub-committee.

The LRC made the proposals based on studies it made on the laws of Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Mainland China, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.

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“A comparative study reveals that these jurisdictions have all provided for the five cyber-dependent crimes and their related jurisdictional issues either by enacting bespoke cybercrime legislation, or dedicating a part of their codified law to cybercrime,” the LRC said in its consultation paper.

The paper also proposed that the cybercrime law include a new offense of “unauthorized access to program or data, subject to a statutory defense of reasonable excuse.”

“We have recommended specifically that any unauthorized access for the public interest necessarily amounts to reasonable excuse. The whole point about using reasonable excuse is to let the courts have some flexibility  and the defendants to have some flexibility in arguing what may be reasonable or what may be unreasonable by reference to our own societal standards,” Chan explained.

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In addition, it proposed that the law have extra-territorial application, so that Hong Kong courts would have jurisdiction in a case where connections with Hong Kong exist, wherever the perpetrator is located when committing the crime.

LRC also said cybercrime should also have two penalties; in summary convictions, the maximum should be two years’ imprisonment while convictions on indictment should have a maximum of 14 years’ imprisonment.

The consultation period will end on Oct. 19.

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Indonesian seeks $300k from employer who allegedly hurt and molested her

By The SUN

 

The court writ says the helper was molested and assaulted by the employer after she refused to have sex with him 

An Indonesian domestic helper took out a writ at the District Court on Friday against her former male employer who allegedly assaulted her after she refused to have sex with him way back in 2019.

B. who is being assisted by Justice Without Borders, is seeking a total of $306,286 in compensation from her employer, H. Lau. The claim is made up of $115,698 for loss of income and HK$190,588 for emotional damage. 

The case is set for hearing on Oct 6.

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According to the writ, B. arrived in Hong Kong on Sept 27, 2019, and headed to Lau’s home the next day after a meeting at her employment agency.

Shortly after arriving at his home Lau allegedly took off his clothes and exposed his genitals in front of the helper.The employer then touched her buttocks as she did housework. The claimant shouted and warned him to stop.

That night, Lau wearing only his underpants, entered B.'s room and fondled her while she lay sleeping. When she woke up, the employer allegedly asked her to have sex with him. He then took off his clothes and tried to undress her. 

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When B. refused Lau pinched her and attacked her with a broom, leaving her with bruises on her left shoulder. She locked herself in the bathroom where she slept that night. 

Over the next two days, Lau allegedly continued his sexual attacks on the helper, and again assaulted her when she refused to have sex with him.

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According to the writ, the Indonesian worker had to sleep in the bathroom three days in a row to fend off Lau’s sexual advances.

On Oct 1, the two went to the office of the employment agency and terminated their contract. The worker then returned to Indonesia.

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In 2020, B. filed a complaint for sexual harassment against Lau and with help from the Justice Without Borders, filed the writ.

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