Enjoy free tram rides tomorrow but don’t litter, burn wax or fly sky lanterns

 

Free unlimited rides on trams can be availed of by anyone tomorrow

All tram rides will be free tomorrow, Sept. 17, the eve of Mid-Autumn Festival. Anyone can just hop on the trams that travel along the east to the west of  Hong Kong island, and take unlimited trips.

The free rides, which are hosted jointly with Huatain International, also marks the 120^th anniversary of Hong Kong’s tram service.

Meanwhile, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department again reminded people to keep public places clean, not burn wax or put lit candles on the ground, grass pitches or beaches, not throw glow sticks or other objects onto trees, and not fly sky lanterns while celebrating Mid-Autumn.

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Locals have been known to celebrate the occasion, also known as Mooncake Festival or Moon Festival, by going to high places like the Peak or by the beach, to gaze at the full moon and pray for better luck.

They are also wont to celebrate by hanging colourful lanterns and lighting candles in parks, or go around adorned with glow sticks.

More importantly, local families use the occasion to gather and celebrate being together after time spent apart.

Flying sky lanterns is a serious offence

Apart from the LCSD, the  Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) also reminded the public to observe fire safety and keep the countryside clean during the festivity, which starts Tuesday night and throughout the day on Wednesday.

The AFCD warned that people who go to countryside should not release any sky lanterns to prevent hill fires.

Under the Forests and Countryside Ordinance (Cap. 96), it is illegal to light a fire or release a sky lantern in country parks and open countryside. Offenders can be fined up to $25,000 and jailed for up to a year.

Littering in public places including parks, beaches, barbecue sites and the countryside is also an offence that is punishable with a fixed penalty of $3,000.

Also strictly prohibited is the burning of wax, throwing objects onto trees or flying sky lanterns. The offence is punishable with a maximum penalty of $2,000 fine and 14 days' imprisonment.

Separately, the Transport Department said special traffic arrangements will be in place starting tonight, Sept. 16 until Wednesday, Sept. 18 as part of crowd control measures for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

To facilitate the holding of the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance, road closure and traffic diversion arrangements will be implemented in the vicinity of Tai Hang from September 16 to 18.

In addition, road closure and traffic diversion arrangements will be implemented in various parts of Hong Kong Island (including Causeway Bay, The Peak, Aberdeen, Pok Fu Lam, Repulse Bay and Shek O) and in the New Territories (including Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan and Ma On Shan) on Sept 17 and 18.

Some parking spaces, taxi stands and public light bus stands in the above areas will also be suspended.

At the same time, public transportation services will be adjusted as follows:

(i) MTR lines (except the Airport Express, Disneyland Resort Line and the section of East Rail Line to and from Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau stations) will operate overnight, and strengthen services from 3pm onwards;

(ii) Seven light rail routes will operate overnight;

(iii) Tram services will be extended to 1am of the following day, and will be strengthened subject to passenger demand;

(iv) Three special bus routes (route Nos. N64P, N272 and 173R) will be operated. Franchised bus companies will also extend the service hours of 10 bus routes and adjust the frequency/departure time of some routes respectively;

(v) 10 green minibus routes will extend their service hours;

(vi) 31 bus routes and 14 green minibus routes will be diverted and adjust their stop locations temporarily in connection with the road closures and traffic diversion arrangements; and

(vii) Star Ferry, Sun Ferry and Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry will strengthen their ferry services subject to passenger demand.

For details of the special traffic and transport arrangements, visit the TD's website (www.td.gov.hk) or its mobile application "HKeMobility". Passengers may also refer to the passenger notices displayed by the public transport operators.

Everyone is encouraged to make use of public  transport as far as possible to avoid traffic congestion and unnecessary delays.

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‘Sampaguita’ among fragrant flowers to go on display at HK Park

 

Arabian jasmine or 'sampaguita' is the national flower 
of both the Philippines and Indonesia

Arabian jasmine, or more commonly known in the Philippines as “sampaguita,” is among different species of fragrant flowers to be shown at an exhibition at the Forsgate Conservatory in Hong Kong Park starting next Friday, Sept. 20.

Sampaguita, whose sweet scent can carry over long distance, is known as the national flower not just in the Philippines, but also in Indonesia.

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It will be among 700 plants from 40 species of fragrant flowers to be showcased at the upcoming exhibition, which will also include Orange-jessamine, Crepe jasmine, Kwai-fah and Banana shrub.

Orange-jessamine which is also white in color, is known for its powerful fragrance and resilience, making it a common choice for hedges.

The Orange-jessamine

Crepe jasmine, on the other hand, has a refreshing scent and is a popular choice for garden landscaping.

Crepe-jasmine

Kwai-fah, a tiny, yellowish-white flower that emits long-lasting fragrance, is also known for being edible, and is often used for desserts, as scented tea, and for creating floral liqueur.

Banana shrubs are so-called because their pale yellow blooms emit a rich, banana-like perfume. The Chinese name of the plant means "wearing a smile", because the flowers, usually partially open, resemble a person with a shy and reserved smile.

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Along with the flowers, display boards will also be set up to introduce their characteristics, planting tips and propagation methods.

The exhibit is open to the public free of charge, and can be viewed from 9am to 5pm daily from Sept 20 to Oct 31 at the Forsgate Conservatory of Hong Kong Park, 19 Cotton Tree Drive, Central.

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6 Indo overstayers found working illegally jailed 15 months

 

The 6 ovestayers were found working as cleaners in a food factory (FILE)

Six former Indonesian domestic helpers who had overstayed their visas were all sentenced to 15 months in jail at Shatin court on Thursday, Sept. 12, after being found to have worked illegally at a food manufacturing plant in Tsuen Wan.

The six, aged between 33 to 46, were arrested during an anti-illegal work operation of the Immigration Department two days earlier.

A statement issued by Immigration said they were found to have worked as cleaners at different floors of the food plant.

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An ensuing investigation revealed they all entered Hong Kong as FDHs but had overstayed their visas.

Another person suspected of having employed the six was also arrested and is still being investigated.

The six former helpers all pleaded in court to breaching the limit of their stay in Hong Kong, and working illegally.

Immigration warned that under section 38AA of the Immigration Ordinance, an overstayer, someone who is subject to a removal or deportation order, or who was refused permission to land, is prohibited from taking any employment, whether paid or unpaid, or establishing or  joining any business.

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Anyone found violating this ordinance face a maximum sentence of three years in jail and fine of $50,000.

Employers of illegal workers could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined a maximum of $500,000.

 

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Filipino avoids jail after 7-month overstay

 

Shatin Court

A Filipino avoided getting imprisoned on Friday, Sept. 13, despite pleading guity at Shatin Court to overstaying his visa by more than seven months.

Zhygme Roquero, 37, was sentenced to 14 days in jail, but suspended for 12 months, for having stayed after the two week grace period that followed the expiration of his domestic helper contract on Oct. 17 2023.

Magistrate David Chum told Roquero that he would not need to be jailed if he does not commit any offense in the next 12 months. However, if he does, he will serve the sentence along with the punishnent for the new offense.

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Magistrate Chum reached the decision after listening to Roquero’s lawyer, who said that all he wanted to do now is to bring his daughter home to the Philippines as soon as possible.

The lawyer said Roquero had been taking care of the girl after he parted ways with the mother, who was his girlfriend.

Since he had overstayed, he surrendered last June to the Immigration Department, which filed the charge of breach of condition of stay against him.

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Chum set a starting point for his punishment at 24 days.

Because of his guilty plea, Chum gave him a one-third discount, which brought it down to 16 days.

Roquero was also given credit for surrendering to the Immigration Department, which brought a further discount of two days, for a final penalty of 14 days imprisonment, which Chum further lightened by suspending it for 12 months. 

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‘Hello, Love, Goodbye’ shown at Asean Film Festival

 

'Hello, Love, Goodbye' became the Philippines' all-time box office hit in 2019

A movie that chronicles the life and struggles of Filipinos working in Hong Kong was shown on Friday, September 13 at Emperor Cinemas in Central, as the Philippines’ main entry in the Asean Film Festival 2024.

“Hello, Love, Goodbye” which earned a total of US$17.4 million and shattered all Philippine box office records when it was first shown in 2019, stars two of the country’s most popular stars, Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards.

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Consul General Germinia Aguilar-Usudan who was among about 100 people who attended the private screening, said she hoped the movie would “bring a better understanding of the aspirations of Filipino workers and create a better appreciation of the personal sacrifices they have to endure to achieve their goals.”

Co-hosting the event was the Hong Kong Asean Foundation led by its chief executive officer Charles Chia and chairman Daryl Ng.

In the movie, Bernardo plays the role of Joy, a nurse who decided to work as a domestic helper in Hong Kong so she could provide for the needs of her father and two siblings back in the Philippines while saving money to pursue her dream of going to Canada.

Joy, like many domestic workers in Hong Kong, hopes to move on to another country where she could be given residency and bring her family along, privileges that are not available to them in the city.

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To pursue her dream, she hustles on the side, selling gadgets and other stuff on her day off, and when her employer fell on hard times and could only pay her half her salary, took up an offer to work the nights as a dishwasher in a bar.

There she meets Richards’ Ethan, a bartender who strings girls along to make up for losing his first girlfriend whom he followed to the United States, but was forced to leave behind when he was deported for overstaying.

Kathryn is Joy, who dreams of moving on to Canada from HK

Ethan’s murky status as a 20-something dependant waiting to become a permanent resident leaves some questions in mind for people familiar with the intricacies of Hong Kong’s immigration laws, but still provides a good counterpoint for Joy’s dilemma.

On the other hand, the predicament of Joy’s battered mother (ably performed by Maricel Pangilinan) who married a local Chinese so she could become a permanent resident and eventually bring her family over from the Philippines, raises a lot of question and could have been left out of the movie altogether.

While past movies that touched on the problems of migrant workers in Hong Kong tended to be melodramatic like “Anak” and “Sunday Beauty Queen,” “Hello, Love” tried to balance the picture by among other things, showing an employer that is compassionate, and parodying beauty contests which in reality, often lead to financial woes for OFW participants.

Kathryn and Alden posing in front of the iconic 'monster building' in Quarry Bay

The movie ends with Joy deciding to pursue her dream of moving to Canada, and Ethan promising to wait for her return while he starts his own business and stay in HK for at least three more years so he could become a PR.

It is a movie screaming for a sequel and predictably, Star Cinema did not waste time fulfilling the promise, especially after Bernardo and Richards started becoming romantically linked. The follow-up film, “Hello, Love, Again” which is again directed by Cathy Garcia-Sampana, has just finished filming in Canada and is expected to be shown in Philippine cinemas in November.

Another rare happy scene in the blockbuster movie

(Two other movies set in the Philippines are also being shown as part of the Asean Film Festival:  K'na the Dreamweaver which was filmed in South Cotabato and is dubbed in the T'boli dialec with English subtitles, was shown on Sept 14 at Asia  Society Hong Kong Center ; and "The Missing", the Philippines' first animated film to be submitted to the Oscars for best international feature is in Filipino with English subtitles, and is scheduled to be screened at the M+ Cinema on Sept 14 at 4:30pm and on Sept 22 (Sunday) at 5:30pm. For more information, visit www.aseanfilmfest.org)

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Filipino asylum-seeker stopped from abusing judicial process

The High Court says the applicant should not be allowed to keep filing cases

The High Court has clamped down on a Filipino asylum seeker who, after losing his non-refoulement case at the highest level -- the Court of Final Appeal -- went back to the Immigration Department to file a new claim, using the same arguments to seek protection from being sent home to the Philippines.

On orders of Deputy High Court Judge K.W. Lung, the Court of First Instance issued a restricted proceedings order (RPO) on Renante Buniag as it again rejected his application for leave to appeal the rejection of his new claim.

“There is evidence to show that if unrestricted, the applicant may take out further proceedings to assert his non-refoulement claim on the same facts of the case, thereby abusing the legal process” for the sole purpose of remaining in Hong Kong, declared the decision written by M.O. Wong for the High Court Registrar.

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Under the RPO, Buniag is “prohibited from commencing any fresh proceedings by whatever originating process, or continuing any existing legal proceedings, relating to any non-refoulement claim of the Applicant in the High Court and any appeal, including this Order, without leave of the Court of First Instance.”

“No more than one leave application … may be made by the Applicant within any period of 3 months,” it added.

If he does initiate such proceedings, the RPO requires them to be referred to the court which will deal with them on paper and without any oral hearing.

The RPO will be effective for five years, it added.

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Buniag arrived in Hong Kong as a tourist and overstayed since Sept. 22, 2017; he filed his non-refoulement claim on April 19, 2018.

His reason was that his life was in danger because he failed to repay debts and that he was also involved in drug trafficking in the Philippines.

The Immigration director rejected his application because his claim was not substantiated. His appeal to the Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office (“the Board”) was also dismissed after it found that his evidence was inconsistent.

The Court of the First Instance rejected his appeal for leave for judicial review of the Board’s decision on Dec. 3, 2021. He then brought his case to the Court of Appeal, which dismissed his appeal.

Finally on Oct. 6 ,2023,  the Court of Final Appeal dismissed his Notice of Motion for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision.

Last Jan. 24, he wrote to the Immigration director to again claim non-refoulement, but this was rejected because he admitted that there was no change in the circumstances he cited in his failed 2018 claim.

This brought him again to the CFI, which rejected his application for leave to file a judicial review and, in addition, issued an RFO to prevent him from abusing the judicial process.

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Lending HKID leads Filipina to face charge of laundering $3.75M

 

Police diagram of how money laundering is committed by scammers

A Filipina domestic helper who claims to have merely sent a copy of her Hong Kong identity card to an acquaintance who has since disappeared, has found herself facing a charge of laundering a total of $3.75million through her Standard Chartered bank account.

Ma. Rochel M. Fuentes, 36, appeared at the District Court on Thursday, September 12, to face an amended charge of “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence”.

According to the charge amended on Aug. 15 this year, she laundered a total sum of $3,758,465.59 from Apr 1-17, 2023 through her Standard Chartered Bank account numbered 978-8-718887-1.

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Justice Justin Ko King-san adjourned the case to November 26 and ordered Fuentes returned to jail.

Previously, the amount Fuentes had allegedly laundered using the same account from Apr 2-4 of the same year totaled $666,300, which was why she was first charged at the Eastern Magistracy.

Magistracies have jurisdiction over less serious cases, and ordinarily impose prison terms of no more than two years.

The District Court, on the other hand, hears all serious cases except murder, manslaughter, rape and dangerous drug cases where large quantities of dangerous drugs have been seized, and can impose a sentence of up to seven years.

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The charge of money laundering, which is contrary to section 25(1) and (3) of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, is punishable with a maximum prison term of 14 years and up to $5 million fine.

Fuentes was arrested at Hong Kong International Airport last January 26, as she was about to board a flight to Manila.

She told friends and family members she was going home to wait for her new employment visa after her previous employer for whom she had worked for 20 months, terminated their contract due to redundancy.

After her arrest, she told the police she was not the one who opened the Standard Chartered bank account. She said she only had an account and an attached ATM at Philippine National Bank.

Fuentes said an acquaintance asked her for copies of her HKID card in exchange for $410. After she received the money, this unknown person blocked her on Facebook.

Despite the lengthy prison sentence she now faces following the transfer of her case to the District Court, Fuentes reiterated her desire to plead guilty to the charge, hoping this would reduce the time she would spend behind bars.

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2 Filipino asylum seekers caught working illegally denied bail

Immigration officers round up suspected illegal workers (ImmD file photo)

Two Filipino asylum seekers arrested last Monday doing odd jobs in a Central shop despite being prohibited from doing so, were returned to jail after their offer of cash bail was rejected at the Shatin Court today.

Allyn Pinana, 30 years old, and Arlene Suratos, aged 47, were charged by the Immigration Department with taking employment while a removal or deportation order is in force against them, a violation of the Immigration Ordinance.

Their duty lawyer offered a cash bail of $2,000 for their release, plus conditions such as surrender of their passports and reporting regularly to police.

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But the prosecutor opposed the bail, saying the evidence against them was strong and, being recognizance certificate holders, they lack local connection to Hong Kong.

Magistrate Andrew Mok agreed with the prosecutor and remanded the two in jail custody until the next hearing on Oct. 24.

Under sections 38AA (1)(b) of the Immigration Ordinance, a person “in respect of whom a removal order or a deportation order is in force… must not take any employment, whether paid or unpaid, or establish or join in any business.”

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The ordinance’s Section 38AA(2) penalizes violators with a fine of up to Level 5 ($50,000) and imprisonment of up to three years.

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New group takes over NAIA management, terminal reassignments eyed

All international flights except PAL's, will be assigned to T3 under the plan

A new group set to take over the management of Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Saturday, Sept. 14, has assured that the planned reshuffle of terminal assignments will be implemented gradually, following alarmed reactions from airlines.

Under the planned terminal reassignments announced by the New NAIA Infrastructure Corporation on Sept 9, flag carrier Philippine Airlines will have exclusive use of Terminal 1 for its international flights, Terminal 2 will be used for domestic flights of both PAL and Cebu Pacific, Terminal 3 will be used for all other international flights, while Terminal 4 will be used by Air Asia for its domestic flights until T2 is expanded.

After local airlines expressed surprised at the plan, the NNIC explained that the changes will be introduced gradually over two years, while Terminal 2 is being expanded to include the site presently occupied by the Philippine Village Hotel.

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NNIC general manager Angelito Alvarez explained that the reassignment is part of their efforts to lessen the congestion at NAIA, improve passenger experience, and boost flight efficiency.

“Remember, the design capacity of NAIA is just 35 million, and right now we are expected to hit 51 million passengers by the end of this year,” Alvarez said.

“If we maintain the status quo, you can just imagine the impact on the passenger experience.”

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While Cebu Pacific and AirAsia both said they support the NNIC’s goal of rehabilitating NAIA and improve passengers’ experience, they asked for more consultation before any changes are made.

CebuPac said in a statement that it is vital that all necessary operational support and systems are in place before any terminal changes are implemented.

The Gokongwei-owned airline cited as an example the year-long transition it took for their flights to be moved from Singapore’s low-cost terminal to Changi Airport’s Terminal 4.

AirAsia meanwhile said that while it welcomed the plan to have all of T4 for its domestic flights, any terminal reassignment would need careful planning, with due consideration for environmental factors and the need to minimize disruptions.

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