Trial on for Filipina who denies assault on 2-year-old ward

 

The Filipina DH is on trial for alleged child abue

A Hong Kong man who accused his Filipina domestic helper of assaulting his two-year-old son thrice last March, said in a trial in West Kowloon Law Courts on Friday, May 19, that he called the police after reviewing CCTV footage and actually seeing the defendant “throwing” his son ward into a cot.

The employer, Mr Chan, 30, was the lone prosecution witness in the trial of Shaira Joy Umbao, who pleaded not guilty to three charges of “wilful assault causing injury to a child.”

At the opening of the originally planned one-day trial before Magistrate Leung Ka-kie, the police officers who arrested Umbao and investigated her begged off from giving evidence, leaving the victim’s father as the lone prosecution witness. The defendant is also slated to give evidence.

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Upon questioning by the prosecutor, Chan said the assaults took place on March 14, 15 and 16 this year inside his flat in Shek Yen House, On Yam, Kwai Chung, New Territories.

To support Chan’s accusations, the prosecution played back five CCTV footages that show the moments the alleged assaults took place

The first video clip taken from overhead on March 14 showed the helper pulling the child’s hands with force as to raise him as he lay on the sofa crying. The child’s crying and the helper’s angry voice got louder as she yanked the boy.

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The second footage showed the seated child’s legs being pulled with force to turn the boy about 90 degrees right towards the defendant.

The third footage showed the helper grabbing the child’s feet and pressing them against a Lego toy on the sofa. The boy at first seemed to be giggling but his voice turned into crying.

The fourth video showed a woman’s lower half-body leaving the masters’ room and a child lying on his right side on his cot. The prosecutor said the footage did not capture the moment when the defendant threw the boy into the cot, as alleged by the father, but added that Chan insisted he saw Umbao actually throw the boy into the cot.

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During cross-examination of Chan by defense lawyer Vivian Wong, the witness denied that since the Filipina started working for her in April 2021, she was only allowed to go out thrice on her holiday.

He denied he was letting the helper work during Umbao’s day off without pay, saying he was paying her $170 each day off that she was asked to work.

The witness also denied that he was letting the helper work from 6am to 1am. Chan disagreed but struggled to explain why the helper had no room and had to sleep in the living room.

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Wong also got Chan to indirectly admit monitoring his helper on CCTV even in wee hours, quickly adding that the camera was focused on Umbao’s feet only, after the defense lawyer asked her how he knew that the helper was awake watching TV drama or chatting with her mother on the phone.    

When pressed on his statement about the helper chatting with her mother at 4am, he said the mother was in a different time zone so she was already awake. Wong corrected him, saying Hong Kong and the Philippines are on the same time zone.

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The defense lawyer also got Chan to admit that he was treating Umbao harshly because he noticed that the helper and his wife have close and friendly relations. But he denied the two women were “sometimes holding hands while walking.”

Chan said at first he, too, was friendly to Umbao, but when he noticed that she and his wife were beginning to get close, he treated her harsher as a counterbalance.

Magistrate Leung adjourned the trial until May 23, when Umbao will give evidence and Wong will sum up the defense’s case.

The lawyer also applied for bail for Umbao, saying she had been already in remand for more than two months since her arrest and might be detained longer than her sentence, if convicted.     

Leung refused the bail application just the same.

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Filipina cricketers, mostly OFWs, win 2 silvers in SEA Games

 

The team, shortly after their big win in the SEA games

Fresh from winning two silver medals in the 2023 Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia, the  Philippines' first ever women's cricket team, made up mostly by domestic workers in Hong Kong, returned to their work place victorious and reinvigorated.

They flew in on May 17, along with their manager Animesh Kulkarni, the women’s complement from Manila and the men’s national cricket team.

Consul General Raly Tejada sent protocol officer Patrick Lozano to meet the heroic Filipinos at planeside in Hong Kong International Airport upon learning that they won medals for the country in the biennial regional games.

Though happy with the result of their first international outing, team captain Josie Arimas said cricket should be taught at an early age to Filipinas, for an even more formidable result.

A Consulate representative meets the mainly OFW contingent at HK Airport

The national women’s cricket team took pride in its debut appearance in a major international event like the SEA Games.

Skippered by Simran Sirah from Manila, the Philippine women’s T10 squad locked in the country’s first silver medal of the regional meeting by defeating Cambodia 45-44 in the event on opening day on April 29. But they lost to top-ranked Thailand 13-11 in the final on May 16.

On May 10, the Filipinas with Jennifer Alumbro from Hong Kong at the helm, earned a shot at the Sixes gold-medal match by thumping host Cambodia 54-42 at the AZ Group Cricket Oval, but settled for silver in a defeat to Indonesia, 78-25, in the final. 

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The Filipinas also competed on May 1 in the gruelling T20 tournament with Arimas as captain, but they proved no match to the pitch veterans Thailand, who won 10-9 with 116 balls remaining.

Ranged against the old-timers, the Filipinas on May 6 suffered a 23-21 defeat to Malaysia, which won 10 wickets with 105 balls left.

Yet their back-to-back silver triumphs were reason to celebrate for the Filipinas, whose freshness and lack of international exposure told on their performance against the veteran sides in the region.

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Learning a lesson from the recent Games, Arimas said that starting Filipino girls early in the sport, the country can help the country build a strong team to be reckoned with in international tournaments.

Arimas is also the founder and captain of SCC Divas, the all-Filipina domestic helper side in Hong Kong cricket.

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“Thailand is the top team in Southeast Asia and ranks 12^th in world cricket,” said Arimas shortly after flying back to Hong Kong with her team of fellow workers on Wednesday afternoon. The rest of the team flew back to Manila on the same day.

“As a cricket mentor, I’d like to spread the sport across the country so that the Philippines can build a formidable cricket team that can play strongly against the older teams around the region,” Arimas said.

She said this was the first time that a Philippine cricket team competed in the SEAGames, and the team’s Hong Kong contingent comprised the first Filipina cricketers who formed the SCC Divas side in the SAR’s cricket league back in 2017.

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“I think it’s best to start training young girls now to produce a strong Philippine Blue Caps team para sa next SEA Games in Thailand in 2025,” said Arimas, who is now 47 years old. 

In a sport where agility and speed count on the pitch, the Filipinas from Hong Kong who played for the national team may not be in their prime but still managed to produce medals despite being minnows in the sport. 

Arimas said among those who scored were April Saquilon, Jonna Eguid, Alex Smith, Jhon Andreano, Jennifer Alumbro and others who scored 1 or 2 runs.

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The captain said the team needs to score big in batting. She said the Filipinas’ more challenging matches were against Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Kulkarni, their manager who went with the team to Cambodia, said he was happy with the Filipinas’ performance in their first major tournament outside Hong Kong. But he said more preparations will be needed to hone up the team for the next SEA Games in 2025. 

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Pinoy thieves who make it family affair at Disney land in jail

 

Filipino tourists made stealing a family affair at 'happiest place on earth'

Hong Kong’s post-COVID-19 reopening have drawn some sticky-fingered Filipino tourists seeking rich pickings in the city’s Disneyland theme park, with at least two instances over the past three weeks that park security systems have foiled.

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The first incident involved a Filipino-Chinese mother who lifted more than 100 souvenir items and other merchandise, such as bags, from several shops at the Magic Kingdom while enjoying the visit with her kids and her husband around the park.

She was unaware, though, that hundreds of electronic eyes have been installed around the popular tourist spot so that any attempt to shoplift is bound to fail.

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So, on May 1, the unnamed woman was taken to West Kowloon Court for a hearing of the fresh theft case filed by police against her. 

She pleaded guilty to the charge and was meted a four-month sentence as the value of her loot was more than $16,000.

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The Philippine Consulate General confirmed the case but declined to identify the convict, accordingly for privacy reasons.

Ten days later, a similar incident took place again in Disneyland. This time it was a family affair for a woman surnamed Malit, her brother and daughter who also failed to escape the cameras.

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They each pleaded guilty to one count of theft when they appeared at West Kowloon Court on May 12.

Two of the three, the mother and her brother, were both sentenced to two months in jail for reportedly stealing around $18,000 worth of souvenir items.

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The daughter’s sentencing was put off until June 14, as her loot was worth $5,000, far smaller than her kin’s pickings. The court awaits a background report.

Citing privacy concerns, the Consulate has also declined to name the accused, although it has confirmed a surname provided by The SUN.  

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Filipina resident jailed 17 months for $830k theft

 

Two theft charges involving Filipinas were heard at the District Court

To pay off her gambling-addicted husband’s debt from loan sharks, a 42-year-old Filipina permanent resident of Hong Kong admitted in District Court that she stole more than $830,000 in various currencies from a foreign exchange shop in Central in June 2019.

Jonah E. Bayogo, mother of a 13-year-old boy, pleaded guilty on Thursday, May 18, to a charge of theft before District Judge Jason Wan in the Tsuen Wan Law Courts.

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Wan sentenced the former domestic helper to a discounted 20-month jail time for pleading guilty, then deducted a further three months for her returning to Hong Kong from Manila after fleeing the offense, and for fully cooperating with the police investigation of the case.

The prosecution charged that at 7:27 pm on June 28, 2019, the defendant entered the DVFX Money Exchange at Shop A1, ground floor, Wheelock House, at 22 Pedder St., Central, Hong Kong, after the shop staff had left.

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Bayogo gained entry into the shop without setting the alarm by using a door key issued to her when she was still employed by the company but which she did not return when she resigned. She then took the keys to two drawers where the shop staff had kept the various currencies amounting to $833,591 before they left for the day.

After opening the drawers, Bayogo stole cash of $104,211 HK currency, 6,845 UAE dirham, AU$6,980, CA$2,550, Swiss francs 2,960, Chinese ¥236,364, €3,060, UK£3,210, Indian rupee 18,130, Japanese ¥1,137,000, Macau patacas 3,080, Malaysian $12, NZ$5,920, PhP105,300, Singapore $21,375, Thai baht49,880, NT$33,700, US$3,977, and Vietnamese dong 45,200,000, all belonging to Globlex Exchange Ltd.

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After putting all the cash in a bag, she left the shop hurriedly, leaving the door key inside.

The prosecution said the shop’s CCTV had recorded the whole episode of the crime, from Bayogo’s entry into the shop and her exit.

After paying off her husband’s debts to the loan sharks on the same evening of June 2019, Bayogo took $40,000, went to the airport and bought a plane ticket and left for Manila.

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Peter Pannu, the defense lawyer provided by Legal Aid, said the defendant exchanged HK$30,000 into pesos in Manila then settled in the Philippines for more than a year. On May 6, 2021, the defendant decided to fly back to Hong Kong to face the consequences of her action.

Bayogo was arrested upon her return at HKIA and sent to 28 Austin Road for quarantine and charged with theft on May 14, 2022. She was formally charged in court on May 18 last year and kept in remand until her plea today, May 18.

Pannu pleaded for a lenient sentence for his client, who, he said, originally came to Hong Kong as a domestic worker and was driven by true love for her husband, a Hong Kong resident construction worker whom she married and by whom she has a 13-year-old son.

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He admitted that the offense was a breach of trust, as Bayogo was a former employee of the victim company. He said the theft was a one-off crime, and the defendant did not turn off the CCTV or hide her identity behind a mask.

The defendant left for the airport in panic after settling the husband’s debts and fled to Manila. More than a year later, she returned to Hong Kong to turn herself in, instead of hiding in her country.

After a 20-minute break, Judge Wan returned with the sentence. He said the under the sentencing guidelines set by the High Court, for theft of $250,000 to $1 million, the sentence starting point is two to three years in prison.

The judge said that after considering all the facts of the case and the mitigation presented by the defense, he decided on a 30-month sentence.

Wan deducted one-third for Bayogo’s guilty plea and cut a further three months for her having returned to Hong Kong to answer for her crime.

The defendant had been in remand since May 6, 2021, which means she has only a few months left to spend in jail.

Also at the District Court, Filipina domestic helper, Ligaya A. Banisal, 43, is set to make her plea to a theft charge involving some 40 pieces of jewellery belonging to her former employer who lives in Lohas Park, Tseung Kwan O.

Judge Justin Ko set the plea-taking for August 10 at the Tsuen Wan Law Courts during a brief hearing in District Court in Wan Chai on May 18. 

In earlier hearings, the prosecution said the jewellery stolen comprised of 18 gold bangles, 2 gold necklaces, 5 gold bracelets, 2 rings, 4 gold rings and 9 necklaces, all belonging to employer Hui Sau-ling. They were allegedly stolen between November 2021 and October 2022.

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Ex-Labatt Jolly ‘sad’ that dangerous window-cleaning claimed another FDW's life

 

Labatt 'Jolly' amid a mound of FDW contracts while he was labor chief in HK

The former head of the Philippine Labor Department office in Hong Kong said it was regrettable that another Filipina domestic worker had been killed while cleaning windows, despite a six-year ban on the dangerous practice.

Jalilo "Jolly" dela Torre who has retired since being posted as labor attaché to Hong Kong until 2019, is widely credited for having led the fight to exclude dangerous window-cleaning from among the chores foreign domestic workers are legally obliged to do.

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Despite strong opposition from employers’ groups, the Hong Kong Labour Department amended the FDW contracts in January 2017, to include the ban on window-cleaning.

Responding to a request from The SUN for a reaction over the tragic death of Jonalyn Galan last Monday while cleaning windows in her employer’s high rise flat: “My heart goes out to the family of the victim. I’m saddened that the ban we have fought hard to achieve and introduced into the standard employment contract for foreign domestic helpers has been disregarded and has resulted into this tragedy.”

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Dela Torre said he is looking forward to what the Hong Kong government will do in response to the tragedy, and if warranted, to initiate prosecution.

“It’s been years since we’ve had a breach of contract like this resulting into the death of a Filipino domestic worker. The Filipino community led by the Consulate-General and POLO must unite to protect the ban we have worked hard to achieve 6 years ago," he added.

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What spurred dela Torre to push for a prohibition against dangerous window cleaning by FDWs was the death of Filipina Rinalyn Duollog in August 2016, who also fell from a height while cleaning windows in her employer’s flat in Tseung Kwan O.

In a fit of anger, Dela Torre unilaterally imposed an undertaking on all employers hiring Filipino domestic workers that they would not compel them to clean windows in unsafe condition.

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This caused an uproar among employers, but after some negotiations with concerned parties the Hong Kong government decided to include the prohibition in all FDW contracts.

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