DH accused of hitting, feeding feces to paralyzed ward

By Vir B. Lumicao

 

Court told the alleged assaults were caught on CCTV

A domestic helper accused of physical and indecent assault on her bedridden elderly male ward had been made to sleep on a sofa bed next to the sick man although she was supposed to share a room with a grandmother.

This was revealed in Eastern Court on Feb 12 by the defense lawyer in the trial of Ivy Rebustillo, who was also accused by her female employer of “fully hitting” her husband and feeding him his own feces.

The trial, presided over by Magistrate Selma Masood, started with the employer Madam Wong being called to give evidence for the prosecution.

Wong, who said she is a businesswoman who travels frequently, was aided by the playback of a CCTV footage that showed a segment where the alleged attacks by Rebustillo were caught on camera.

She said she had the CCTV installed so she could monitor her husband, who was paralyzed by a stroke and could only nod his head and move his right arm feebly.

Wong said she discovered the assaults when she checked the CCTV on Jun 30 last year and called the police, who then arrested the defendant.

Rebustillo was charged with one count each of common assault and indecent assault on Wong’s husband, identified only as Mister X. The wife told the court that the man died last year.  

In the footage section played back by the prosecution, the defendant was shown carrying a red plastic stool which at one point looked like it struck the face of the sick man.

Another segment showed Rebustillo pulling aside her ward’s diaper and lifting his penis with her right hand as she checked his bottom. Then she turned him to his right side and replaced his soiled diaper. 

During cross examination, the defense lawyer questioned Wong about the provisions on duties and accommodation in the work contract that were not followed.

The lawyer also disputed Wong’s claim that her husband had told her Rebustillo had been feeding him with his excrement.

He pointed out inconsistency in Wong’s testimony because she said earlier that her husband could not talk. Wong changed her statement, saying Mr X wrote his complaint on paper.  The lawyer told her she just made up the story.

The next witness, the officer who arrested Rebustillo, was grilled by the defense lawyer about his failure to remind the helper about her rights and for letting the defendant sign a form without an interpreter to translate it for her.

The officer was also asked why he told the Filipina in the absence of a lawyer or interpreter that if she denied the charge, she would be jailed six months, but if she admitted it, she would get a one-third discount.

The trial is expected to last for two days.

Filipina DH in shampoo theft case acquitted

Thelma B. Damiago 

By Vir B. Lumicao

A Filipina domestic worker accused of theft by her employer has been acquitted by an Eastern Court magistrate who said the prosecution failed to provide enough evidence to prove the defendant’s guilt.

“In a situation like this, the burden of proof rests on the prosecution. Defendant, you are therefore acquitted,” Magistrate Leona Chan told the helper, Thelma B. Damiago, who immediately wailed uncontrollably and embraced her Filipina interpreter tightly.

Magistrate Chan also said the disclosure of the defendant that she had been hit and verbally abused by her male employer should be given attention by the authorities.

During the trial, a voice recording was played in which a man identified by Damiago as her male employer could be heard hurling abuse at the helper.

Following her acquittal, Damiago, told The SUN how relieved she was about being cleared of any wrongdoing. But the 33-year-old single mother she said she wanted to look for a new employer as she had been jobless for four months.

Damiago was given shelter by her employment agent, Technic Employment Service Centre, since she was released on bail.

The Filipina was accused by her employer, Jennifer Wong Wen-yi of stealing small bottles of shampoo, shower gel and lotion, plus a bar of soap on Oct 15 last year.

The allegation was made two weeks after Damiago handed in her resignation letter, citing the alleged verbal and physical abuse inflicted on her by Wong’s husband.

Solicitor William Wong, who represented Damiago, said during the trial that the employer must have made up the case to stop the helper from reporting to police the abuse she suffered from the employer’s husband.

In an audio recording played during Jennifer Wong’s cross examination by the defense, a man was heard shouting angrily at Damiago while calling her “stupid” a few times.

At one point, Damiago was heard reacting aloud, “Sir, don’t hurt me, Sir, please don’t hurt me” when the man allegedly hit her in the neck with a plastic folder.

Then the maid was heard telling another woman, “Sir hit me in my neck with a folder”. The woman, who the employer admitted “sounds like me”, simply said “What?”

The defense counsel said the audio was recorded by Damiago one day last September, before she handed her resignation letter.

The prosecution tried to exclude the audio and a longer handwritten resignation letter the defense lawyer presented just before the trial, but Magistrate Chan accepted them.

Prosecution lawyer Alexander Cheung suggested to the maid that she made up the letter after police arrested her.

But Damiago insisted it was the first resignation letter she had given her employer on Sept 22 last year but which Wong did not sign because she did not like the reason cited there.

Wong, who lives in Repulse Bay with her husband and their two children, said that on Oct 15 last year, while looking for a new pair of running shoes, her other maid Jazel Urbanes told her she had seen Damiago put the shoes in her luggage.

Wong said she told Urbanes to tell Damiago she would check her luggage at 11pm that day, the defendant’s day off, as she might have taken other items from the household.

On inspection, Wong said she found the toiletry set she had bought in Thailand. A pack of dried cranberry given by her sister was also allegedly found in a bag on Damiago’s bed.

Wong claimed she also found the shoes, although these were not included in the charge sheet.

Urbanes also testified against Damiago, but the defense managed to show several inconsistencies in her evidence.

Pera, padala, saan napunta?

Pagsasanay sa pag gastos ng mga kalahok.

Ni George Manalansan

Paano gastusin nang maayos ng kapamilya sa Pilipinas ang perang padala ng isang OFW?

Isa ito sa mga katanungan na tinugunan ng Card Hong Kong Foundation sa ginanap na workshop sa community hall ng Philippine Overseas Labor Office sa Wanchai noong ika-20 ng Enero. Dinaluhan ito ng 43 migranteng manggagawa.

Bawat lumahok ay nagsabi na ang kanilang New Year’s resolution ay ang baguhin ang pagtrato nila sa kanilang kita. Para matupad ito, ang unang hakbang nila ay ang pagdalo sa mga pagsasanay para sa dagdag na kaalaman, at para matuto na maging masinop.

Ayon sa isa sa mga trainor o tagapagsanay, dapat ay unahin nila ang layunin na kumita o mag-ipon bago gumastos sa ibang bagay. Matutong mag-adjust o bawasan ang gastos sa mga hindi  importanteng bagay.

Nang tanungin sila kung alam pa nila kung saan napunta ang pinadala nilang pera sa Pilipinas sa unang taon ng kanilang pagtatrabaho, sinabi ng karamihan na hindi na nila mapagtanto.

Maraming iba pang paksa ang tinalakay sa pagsasanay, kabilang ang mga iba’t ibang dahilan kung bakit dumarayo sa ibang bansa ang mga manggagawang Pilipino. Ang karamihan ay sinabi na ang pangunahing dahilan ay ang edukasyon ng kanilang mga anak, ang makapagpatayo ng sariling bahay, makaipon ng kapital sa negosyo, o kaya ay para makabalik sa Pilipinas ng matiwasay.

Ayaw nilang lahat umuwi ng bigo.



Tinalakay din ang mga dahilan kung bakit marami ang tumatagal sa Hong Kong ng walang ipon, pundar o plano man lang. Kabilang dito ang hindi pagtatabi ng pera para sa mga hindi inaasahang pangyayari, kawalan ng disiplina kaya walang pakundangan ang paggastos, at ang walang patumanggang pangungutang.

May ilan din na ang asawang iresponsable ang itinuro na dahilan.



Nang tanungin ang mga kalahok kung paano sila naghahanda sa kanilang kinabukasan, marami ang nagsabi na kakaunti, o wala silang naipon na pera, bagamat may iilan din na nagpatunay na bihasa sila sa paghawak ng kita.

Marami sa kanila ang nagsabi na ang malaking bahagi ng kanilang suweldo ay napupunta sa mga kapamilya na umaasa lahat sa kanila. Ayon naman sa mga trainor, hindi agad masosolusyunan ang ganitong problema, maliban na lang kung maisasama ang kapamilya sa pag-aaral ng tamang pag-gastos.



Sa isang banda, isang malaking hakbang na nagpasya ang mga kasali na gumawa ng paraan para maiba ang takbo ng kanilang buhay kumpara sa karamihan ng mga tambay sa Central.

Kabilang sa mga naengganyo na planuhin ang kanyang kinabukasan ay si Edna Sagur na may dalawang anak at dalawang taon na rin sa Hong Kong. Nagtakda siya ng ilang “goal” para sa kanyang kinabukasan: una, ang mag-ipon ng kapital sa negosyo na tutustos sa pag-aaral ng kanyang mga anak, magpagawa ng bahay, at maging katuwang ang asawa sa pagbabagong buhay. Bagama’t may problema daw sa paa ang kanyang mister ay magaling naman daw itong magluto, kaya angkop sa kanila ang negosyong kainan.



Ito ang batch 52 ng mga migranteng manggagawa na sumabak sa libreng pagbibigay kaalaman
ng Card tungkol sa tamang paghawak ng pera, pagnenegosyo at pagsasanay pangkabuhayan.

Para sa mga gustong sumali sa mga nalalapit na pagsasanay, bumisita lang sa Facebook page ng  “Card Hong Kong Foundation”.

Health check para sa OFW

Wala na ang mandatory health check. Kung gusto mo pa ring malaman kung ikaw ay malusog o may sakit, pwede kang pumunta sa POLO para sa libreng checkup o magpatingin ka sa pribadong doktor. At dahil hindi ito “mandatory”, iyong mga walang sakit o iyong gustong itago o ipag-walang bahala ang kanilang nararamdaman ay patuloy na hindi mapapansin hanggang isang araw ay bigla na lang itong umatake at igupo sila.

Nagsimula ang ideyang ito bilang resulta ng libreng check up na ginagawa ng POLO. Nalaman kasi mula sa mga blood test at pagkuha ng blood pressure, na marami sa mga OFW ang may mataas na presyon ng dugo, na pwedeng lumala at maging mitsa ng buhay, o mataas na asukal sa dugo na sintomas ng diabetes.

Marami pang ibang sakit ang nadiskubre sa simpleng check-up na ito. May nadiskubreng may mataas na uric acid, na dahilan ng mga sakit-sakit na kanilang dinaramdam. May nakitaan pa ng cancer na agad pinapunta sa tamang gamutan.



Kung sa mga simpleng pagsusuring ito ay natuklasan ang mga sakit, ano kaya kung gawin itong mandatory para sa lahat? Ito ang pinaka-natural na tanong kung ang may malasakit ka sa mga OFW.

At ano ang pinaka-epektibong paraan na ipatupad ito? Siyempre, gawing requirement ang health check kapag nagprocess sila ng kontrata.



Ang problema nga lang, sa paghahangad ng isang bagay, may nakakaligtaan tayo. Sa kasong ito, nakalimutan natin ang orihinal na layunin. Imbes na maging paraan ito na salain ang hanay ng OFW upang matunton ang nangangailangan ng tulong pangkalusugan, naging banta ito sa kanilang pagpapatuloy ng trabaho.




May kasabihan na, “The fastest way to a destination is not a straight line.” Minsan, mas mabilis makakarating sa puuntahan kung dadaan sa liko-liko. Sa madaling salita, imbes na gawing mandatory ang health check, bakit hindi iba ang gawing mandatory?



Halimbawa, iutos ang health insurance. Ginagawa na ito ng Konsulado ng Indonesia kaya hindi na bago. Siyempre, naroon pa rin ang health check, dahil ito ay kailangan sa insurance na ganito.

Ang layunin dito ay hindi mamatay ang idea. Nakita na natin ang pakinabang nito. Huwag nating pabayaan