Filcom leaders mourn passing of One Visayas president

Representatives of various organizations pray for Connie Sampilo’s soul.

By Daisy CL Mandap

Tears flowed freely as friends and fellow officers of One Visayas president Concepcion “Connie” Sampilo gathered in Edinburgh Place, Central on Jan. 13 to mourn her untimely death.

Sampilo, 56, died on Jan. 5 from complications from pneumonia, with blood cancer as the underlying cause, while on vacation in Taguig City.

Connie Sampilo

She left behind her husband, Rodolfo, and two grown-up children, Carlo and Hinalyn.

A date has yet to be set for her burial as her family is still awaiting Hinalyn’s return from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, where she works as a nurse.

Sampilo’s death came as a shock to many of her friends, as she hardly spoke to anyone about feeling unwell, preferring to consult doctors privately.

But at least one recalled seeing big welts on Sampilo’s back (a usual symptom of a blood disease like leukemia) while giving her a massage. “May mga bukol din akong nakapa pero pinalitratuhan lang niya at tiningnan,” said the friend.

Sampilo reportedly consulted a doctor sometime in October, but afterwards told her family that it was just for a cough. She left Hong Kong in late November for what was supposed to be a short vacation in the Philippines, but failed to return as planned on Dec. 6.



By then her health appeared to have deteriorated that she had to be taken to various hospitals for treatment, until she succumbed to her various ailments at Taguig Pateros District Hospital.

While she sought treatment, Sampilo continued to keep mum about her real condition to friends.

At the memorial, fellow One Visayan officer Nerissa Jimena recalled a leader who worked tirelessly to promote her group’s causes while continuing to provide for the needs of her family back home.

Her latest big project would have been the annual One Visayas Festival, set this year on Feb. 17.



Jimena said Sampilo had promised to return to Hong Kong on Jan. 25 to oversee final preparations for the event. She was originally scheduled to return on Dec. 6, but merely said she was still feeling unwell and could not leave as planned.

Alann Cayosa Mas, who as a former chairman of Philippine Alliance, had worked with Sampilo on several projects, recalled her as someone who always extended “all-out support” to fellow officers.



Mas also recalled with sadness how Sampilo had, for the first time, decided to book the venue for the Feb. 17 event by herself.  Now that she’s gone, her fellow officers will have to provide proof of her death so the booking could still be kept by her group.

“Ganito din ang nangyari nang mamatay si Naz (Ampang, who also died suddenly while in the middle of preparations for an annual PhilAlliance event). Kinailangan kong kumuha ng death certificate para mailipat sa pangalan ko yung booking.”



One Visayas founder and vice president Blanche Abasa described Sampilo as “very secretive” that even her employer, a local lawyer who’s an ethnic Thai, was not aware that she was ill.

The employer, who reportedly got upset that Sampilo chose not to use her medical insurance to seek treatment in Hong Kong, made a day-long trip to Manila on Jan.12 to pay final respects to Sampilo and to contribute to the funeral and burial expenses.

In a Facebook post, Abasa said: “She will always be remembered, and we will always treasure memories of her being with One Visayas Hong Kong.”

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Bicol group holds relief drive for typhoon victims

Volunteers pack the relief goods donated by fellow OFWs.

By Ellen Asis

Bicol Migrants Association Hong Kong or BMAHK organized two Sundays of relief operation for the victims of typhoon Usman which swept through their region on Dec 30, killing more than a hundred people and causing massive flooding and landslides.

The relief drive led by BMAHK chairman Art Buban and President Victoria Brabante was held on Jan 6 and 13 outside Worldwide Plaza in Central.



Cargo boxes provided free by companies AFreight, Amazing Speed, GenEx and Royal Cargo were filled by donors from various groups with used clothes, instant noodles, canned goods, toiletries and other non-perishable goods.



Filipino organizations such as Global Alliance, Guardians, FLAG, Filipino Drivers Group, KOBI Group, Philippine Alliance, and Pangasinan Society HK supported the relief operation.



The relief goods will be sent to typhoon victims in Sagay, Camarines Norte, Buhi in Camarines Sur and Tiwi in Albay.



Buban express his gratitude and thanked Filipino community members who responded to his group’s call for donations and support.

“Nagpapasalamat ako sa mga Pilipino dito sa Hong Kong dahil lagi silang nakasuporta sa tuwing magkakaroon ng project ang grupo. Sana ay pagpalain at gabayan lagi sila ng Diyos dahil sa busilak nilang puso,” said Buban.

According to National Disaster Relief Agency, Usman caused 126 deaths, with 26 other people missing, and 75 injured. More than 150,000 people were displaced.

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Memorial set for untimely passing of longtime Filcom leader

Connie Sampilo's photo by Nerissa Jimena

by The SUN

(UPDATED)

Members of the Filipino community in Hong Kong are mourning the death of longtime leader Concepcion "Connie" Q. Sampilo, who passed on in Taguig City at 8:30pm on Jan. 5.

Sampilo, president of One Visayas Hong Kong, died from complications from pneumonia, with blood cancer as the underlying cause.

Her death shocked her friends and relatives, who said Sampilo did not complain to them about feeling unwell, nor confided about having a serious ailment.
.
She reportedly consulted a doctor sometime in October, but afterwards told her family that it was just for a cough. She left Hong Kong in late November for what was supposed to be a short vacation in the Philippines, but failed to return as planned on Dec. 6.

By then her health appeared to have deteriorated that she had to be taken to various hospitals for treatment, until she succumbed to her various ailments at Taguig Pateros District Hospital. 

A memorial gathering and vigil has been set by her friends in One Visayas led by Nerissa Jimena at 5pm tomorrow, Jan13, at the stop for bus no 13, adjacent to the City Hall in Central.

One Visayas founder and vice president Blanche Abasa described Sampilo as “very secretive” that even her longtime employer, a Thai national, was not aware that she was ill.

But it may also be because Sampilo herself was not aware that she had blood cancer until she was taken seriously ill in the Philippines.

Her employer reportedly left for Manila on Jan.12 to pay final respects to Sampilo and to pay for the funeral and burial expenses.

In a Facebook post, Abasa said Sampilo was a very energetic leader who was actively involved in planning the 8^th One Visayas Festival this coming Feb. 17.

“She will always be remembered, and we will always treasure memories of her being with One Visayas Hong Kong,” said Abasa.

Sampilo, who was 56 and a native of Calinog, Iloilo, had worked in Hong Kong for 26 years. She is survived by her husband Rodrigo and two grown-up children, Carlo and Hanilyn.

A date has yet to be set for her burial as Hanilyn is expected to fly home from Damman, Saudi Arabia where she is working as a nurse.

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Collection doubtful as DH awarded $9k claim vs. no-show employer

Rosete's employer was a no-show at the Labour Tribunal

By Vir B. Lumicao

A domestic worker has been awarded her full claim of about $9,000 against her employer, but her chances of collecting the money are in doubt as the employer never appeared in the Labour Tribunal and could not be contacted.

The helper, Vilma V. Rosete, 48, filed her claim against Wong Kwok-chung after she was terminated on Nov 26 by the employer’s wife without giving her one month’s notice and not a cent

Tribunal Presiding Officer Eric Tam awarded to Rosete on Jan 10 one month’s wage of $5,000 in lieu of notice, arrears in wages for one week, payment for two unused days off, and $2,700 for a one-way air ticket back to the Philippines.

Tam, however, excluded a severance pay of $14,274 being claimed by Rosete.

With her award certificate from the Tribunal, Rosete can go to the District Court to ask the court bailiff to enforce the judgment. However, this will involve her paying the bailiff a few thousands of dollars, which she does not have.

In the first hearing on Dec 10, Wong snubbed the court notice sent by the Tribunal to the defendant’s address in Kwai Shing Estate, Tai Wo Hau, Tsuen Wan.

Neither did the employer respond to calls made by Labour Department staff to Wong or his wife to discuss the dispute with them, Rosete said.

Even before the case went to the Tribunal, the employer had refused to pay the helper all the money due her, Rosete said.

The Filipina told the SUN she had put up with the excesses of the employer’s wife, who allegedly assaulted her each time she was drunk during the four years and three months that she served the family.

Rosete said the police is investigating her assault complaint.

The maid was hired locally in August 2014 by Wong, who stated in the employment contract she had to serve the couple and their two children. But Rosete found out Wong had three children at the time. In 2017, the wife gave birth to a fourth child.

Rosete said she had no problem with Wong, who signed her employment contract, but it was his wife who allegedly made her life miserable.

The said the wife, who stayed at home, attacked her each time she was drunk and they had an argument. She would show Wong the bruises on her arms that the assaults left, but the employer could not stop his wife from hurting the maid.

Rosete said she went to see a doctor for medical records of injuries after recent assaults, but the female employer allegedly confiscated the records.

When asked why she did not report to the police, Rosete said she never did so out of pity for the children, who were endeared to her.

On Nov 26, she had another argument with the employer’s wife, who ordered her to leave. She called up IPT, the agency that placed her with the Wongs, and the agent told her to go to his office at 4pm so they could talk.

But the employer’s wife insisted that she pack up and go. Rosete said she left the flat at 1:30pm and was given shelter by the agency. She said the agency owner also reported the assaults to the police and that investigations were under way.

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Ang kalusugan mo

 Kung hindi pa nagkaroon ng libreng test upang malaman ang kanilang blood pressure, blood sugar at iba pa sa ilalim ng Project HealthWise  ng POLO, hindi pa malalaman ng marami sa mga OFW na may problema sila sa kalusugan. At hindi rin natin malalaman na isang health time bomb ang naghihintay na sumabog.



Halimbawa, sa 1,441 na dumaan sa testing, lumabas na 14% ang pre-diabetic (o iyong mataas kesa sa normal ang asukal sa dugo) at 7.63% ang kumpirmadong diabetic — na mas mataas kesa sa 6.2% average na naitala sa Pilipinas.



Sa 1,645 na nagpatingin naman ng blood pressure, 11.24% ang may mataas na presyon, 17% ay may sakit na alta presyon, at 2.5% ang pinayuhang magpatingin agad sa duktor dahil baka bigla na lang silang atakihiun sa puso.

Nakakatakot ang mga bilang na ito, ayon kay Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre.

Hinihingi niya ngayon sa pamahalaan ng Hong Kong na  idagdag sa mga patakaran nito ang pagsailalim ng mga OFW sa regular na medical checkup. Dahil bago pa lang ang panukala, hindi pa alam kung sino ang dapat magbayad nito, o kung gaano kadalas dapat gawin — kung taunan, o tuwing bawa’t pag-process ng kontrata (o tuwing dalawang taon).

Ano man ang kahihinatnan ng panukalang ito, hindi maikakaila na dapat agkarrion ng agarang aksyon dahil, kung pagbabasehan natin ang mga datos na nakalap ng POLO, isa sa bawa’t 20 na OFW ay may diabetes na unti-unting lumalala at hindi nagagamot, at isa sa bawa’t 50 ay namemeligrong atakihin sa puso.



Kaya sa pananaw ng kalusugang pangmadla, ang iinmungkahing patakaran ni Labatt Jolly ay dapat sangayunan ng mga opisyal ng Hong Kong.

Alam natin na bayad ng gubyerno ang pagpapa-ospital ng maysakit, basta’t may hawak silang HK ID. Kung mapipigilan nila ang pagkalat at paglala ng mga sakit, mas kakaunti ang maoospital, at bababa rin ang kanilang gastos pang-kalusugan.



Pero hindi rin natin dapat kalimutan na nakaatang ang responsibilidad sa ating sarili. Hindi natin dapat iasa sa iba ang ating kalusugan. Dapat tayong sensitibo sa mga nararamdaman natin — iyang sakit sa dibdib, o pagkahilo o paninigas ng kalamnan sa suso ay may kahulugan at dapat gawan ng hakbang.

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