Pinoy hikers warned as OFW in coma after fainting during climb

By Vir B. Lumicao

OFWs are advised to check with doctors if they're fit to join hikes

A Filipina helper is fighting for her life in hospital after collapsing and falling into a coma while on a hike with friends on one of Hong Kong’s mountains on Sunday, Feb 17.

Rosalie V. Nituda, 42 years old, was rushed to hospital by an ambulance team after her hiking buddies called for help immediately after she lost consciousness.

Labor Attaché Jalilo dela Torre is urging hikers to consult with doctors before embarking on a hike to avoid similar incidents.

“We are concerned about the incident where a mountain hiker collapsed while hiking and is now comatose,” Labatt Dela Torre said in response to an online inquiry.

“I urge hikers in the community to first consult your doctor before undergoing such strenuous activity. Mountain climbing is no walk in the park – one needs to be physically and mentally fit for it,” he said.

He said officers of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration will visit Nituda at the hospital this week to check on her condition.

Nituda is reported to be on her second contract with her current employer.

The employer went to the POLO on Wednesday and reported the incident. She had gone earlier to the Consulate’s assistance to nationals office but reportedly refused to identify the victim, herself or the hospital.

“The employer did not want to give details, including which hospital the worker was taken. She came here looking for OWWA, so, I just referred her to OWWA,” said an ATN officer.

The employer only said doctors in the hospital had operated on the helper’s brain, after she collapsed while hiking with friends at noontime on Sunday.

Hong Kong was cloudy that day, with showers in the morning and temperatures ranging from 18 to 20 degrees Celsius.

The weather was far cooler than a day earlier, when a 45-year-old local male hiker also collapsed at noontime on Devil’s Peak above Yau Tong in East Kowloon after calling police and complaining that he was dizzy, media reports said. The mercury was at 26 degrees, unusually hot for this time of the year.

The man was taken to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan by a government helicopter. He died at 2:55pm.

67 massage trainees pass Tesda's first NC II assessment this year

By Vir B. Lumicao

Massage therapy graduates wait outside POLO for their turn to be assessed 

A total of 67 out of 100 massage therapy graduates passed the initial National Certificate II competency assessment administered by the Technical Education  and Skills Development Administration last weekend.

Labor Attaché Jalilo dela Torre congratulated the passers online on Feb 18 as he disclosed that his office will also train overseas Filipino worker-trainors on the new Tesda framework for massage therapy.

Trainor Ramos is joined by Polo and OWWA officers in awarding the NCII certificates

He said the target date for the trainors training is in March.

The labor attaché said the training was suggested by Tesda, which sent a team of certification officers to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office on Feb 16-17 to assess 338 massage therapy and 172 caregiver NC II candidates.

 

The team led by Marites S. Ramos from the Tesda Certification Office spent practically the entire two days testing the NC II applicants.

“We finished the Saturday assessment at 11:30pm and we are going to finish today’s batch even if it will take us until 1:30am,” Ramos told The SUN on Feb 17.

She said each of the candidates was told of the result as soon as they finished an actual demonstration of their massage skills on a “client” in a two-hour session. The certification followed each time an applicant passed muster.

But the assessment was tedious and thorough. By noon on Sunday, the Tesda team had assessed only 15 NCII aspirants.

Labatt Dela Torre said the process lasted until 3:30am the next day, Monday, until the 100^th massage therapy graduate had been assessed.

He thus urged those booked for the Feb 24 assessment to try and go a day earlier to accommodate those who had to drop out of the queue last Sunday because of their “curfew”.

“(If) you are able to get your employer's permission to come on Saturday instead, Feb 23, we would be grateful,” Labatt Dela Torre said in his Facebook post.

“To those who are booked on Sunday, Feb 24, please tell your employers early that you might be late because of the assessment. We don't want you to feel pressured by work concerns while you are waiting for your turn to be assessed,” he said.

Dela Torre said the Tesda team will return for the Feb 23-24 assessment of the remaining NC II aspirants. A total of 338 have registered for the assessment and less than a third of that number has been assessed so far.

“They will be back on Feb 22 … and there will be more assessors so we are confident we can cover all applicant massage therapy graduates,” Labatt Dela Torre said.

Ramos said Hong Kong is the first OFW destination this year for the certification team, which reaches out to countries where there are large concentrations of Filipino workers.

She said the trainings and assessments offered by Tesda help Filipino workers, especially domestic workers, level up in the career ladder in preparation for their integration into the economy when they return home.

“We are happy to see our workers acquiring skills through Tesda’s development courses, such as massage therapy and caregiving, which will equip them for a career change,” Ramos said.

They can even use their training to become entrepreneurs, she said.       

Corruption-tainted vs newbies on the campaign trail

Voter shows off inked finger. (Comelec photo)

Candidates tainted with corruption charges take the limelight in the Duterte administration lineup while newcomers in the political arena battle it out in the opposition’s slate for the May senatorial election.

The 90-day national campaign period for over 60 senatorial candidates and 154 party-list groups in the May elections officially began on Tuesday, with the pro-administration “Hugpong ng Pagbabago” led by presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte launching its campaign in Pampanga, the bailiwick of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo while the “Otso Diretso” opposition slate started house-to-house campaigning in Caloocan City.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec), meanwhile, reiterated its warning against electoral offenses such as posting of campaign banners in unauthorized places and vote-buying.

The Senate race is considered to be tight, with seven senators seeking reelection, six others wanting to return to the chamber and several prominent candidates, including those endorsed by President Duterte, fighting over only 12 slots.

Two political groups with senatorial slates are aligned with the administration:  the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), the political party of Duterte; and the HNP coalition of Sara Duterte, which is endorsing 14 candidates.

From the opposition, so far only former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas and Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV have made it into the “Magic 12” of both the Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations’ latest popularity surveys.

Apart from Roxas and Aquino, the other candidates of the Otso Diretso (Straight Eight) slate are human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc, former solicitor general Florin Hilbay, veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, former Quezon congressman Erin Tañada and Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano.

Included in the administration slate were former senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla, who were both jailed but released on bail for plunder over the multi-billion peso pork barrel scam. With them are Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos whose family has still been embroiled in several court cases for massive corruption during the reign of his late father, Ferdinand Marcos.

President Duterte has not endorsed a complete slate but he has already “spoken in favor” of his ex-special assistant Bong Go, former political adviser Francis Tolentino and former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.

Also in the pro-administration ticket are reelectionist senators, belonging to different political parties, who launched their electoral campaign separately but together in a rare sortie on Tuesday in Tondo, Manila.

Sens. Cynthia Villar, Sonny Angara, Joseph Victor Ejercito and Aquilino Pimentel III were also in slate of Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), a regional party headed by the President’s daughter.



Others in the 14-man slate for Hugpong are Taguig City-Pateros Rep. Pia Cayetano, Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu and former journalist Jiggy Manicad.

Otso Diretso candidates except Roxas joined a “face-to-face persuasion campaign” in Caloocan City, where they launched the slate’s eight-point program.

Roxas kicked off his campaign in Capiz, the hometown of his grandfather, the late President Manuel Roxas.



Liberal Party president Francis Pangilinan said the opposition bets will focus on improving the lives of Filipino families. “They themselves will knock on doors and talk to ordinary folk all over the country,” he said.

“This campaign strategy of going house-to-house is a game-changer. It has not been done on a national scale,” said Pangilinan, who is also the Otso Diretso campaign manager.

“Kaya ka ilalagay diyan para tumulong ka, di para sirain ang kanyang mga programa ng gobyerno sapagkat naniniwala kami sa kanya,” Panelo said. (That’s why you are placed there, to help, not to destroy the programs of the government. You should help because we believe in him).



“Our campaign would be uphill as most of them are relatively unknown in the national stage. But I am confident that when the people get to know them more, they will vote for them to become our public servants in the Senate,” Pangilinan said.

Some Duterte allies have been trying to distance themselves from the administration by conducting separate campaign sorties and presenting themselves as independent candidates.

Sen. Grace Poe kicked off her campaign with a school feeding program at a multi-purpose hall in Payatas, Quezon City.



Sen. Nancy Binay launched her campaign with a motorcade from San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. She was joined by Angara, former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile and senatorial candidate Dan Roleda.

Human rights lawyer and former congressman Neri Colmenares, a staunch Duterte critic, is also running for senator as an independent.

Reelectionist senators Angara, Binay, Ejercito, Pimentel, Poe, Villar and Aquino – who is running under the opposition coalition Otso Diretso –were together in one rally in Tondo on Tuesday.

Wanted: Tinikling dancers

The Tinikling Group of Migrants HK (TGM) is back to perform cultural dances at the Hong Kong Flower Festival 2019 on March 17, in  victoria Park Causway..

The TGM looking for Male/Female performers no age limit. 

For more information please contact: 

Ms. Tesay @ 9445-4460 ( Mindanao friends)

Ms. Emz @ 9851-2804 & Zed @ 9170-3560 (Luzon friends)

Ms. Cha @ 9137-4182 ( Visayas friends ) 

Ms Marie Maltu Velarde is founder/President of Tinikling Group of Migrants HK.

3 Pinoys jailed 5 months for bank fraud

by Vir B. Lumicao

The 3 tourists were sentenced in Eastern court

Three Filipino tourists have each been sentenced to five months in jail after pleading guilty in Eastern Court to four counts of “using false instruments” in opening accounts in two Hong Kong banks.

Enrique Vargas, Ryan Illustrisimo and Maureen Gutierrez, all call center workers, had their heads bowed, with Vargas wiping away tears, as Magistrate Lam Tsz-kam read the sentences to them.

All had pleaded guilty to the offence.

Lam sentenced each to four months in jail for using the forged documents in opening accounts at Bank of China, and an additional month for using the same documents at Standard Chartered Bank.  

Vargas, a customer service officer, had told investigators the three of them did not know each other. He said he only responded to an offer on social media about free travel and accommodation to Hong Kong.

When he contacted the person who posted the offer, he found out the deal was to come here and open a banking account. 

All three suspects said they saw the same offer and grabbed the opportunity to visit Hong Kong for free. They said the documents were handed to them by local men who met them when they arrived here on Oct 9.

Vargas and Illustrisimo, who were both 30, and Gutiterrez, 23, were arrested on Oct 10 last year after they submitted forged work contracts and home addresses to successfully open bank accounts at the Bank of China branch in United Centre in Admiralty.

According to the prosecution, the defendants went to the BOC branch at 1:30pm and submitted work contracts with Wharf (Holdings) Ltd dated Oct 2, 2018 and address proofs dated Oct 5.

The bank’s senior operations manager later discovered faults in the contracts, such as typographical errors and suspicious Hong Kong addresses. Suspecting that the contracts were forged, the officer suspended the defendants’ accounts.

When Vargas, Illustrisimo and Gutierrez tried but failed to access their accounts around 1:40pm, they returned to the BOC branch and were told to wait. Unknown to them, the case was reported to the police and at 2:30pm, they were arrested.

Officers also searched the hotel rooms of the three but found nothing significant.

A day earlier, the three successfully opened bank accounts at the Standard Chartered branch at The Forum Exchange on Connaught Road Central using the same forged documents.

The human resources manager of Wharf, meanwhile, confirmed that the contracts were forged.

Staff of Cathay Pacific Airlines contacted by police said the defendants had confirmed return flights to Manila from Hong Kong on Oct 13.

Pinay in ferry pier ‘struggle’ fined $2k and gets suspended jail term

By Vir B. Lumicao

The Filipina injured a Customs officer at the Sheung Wan ferry terminal who wanted to check her bag

A Filipina was fined $2,000 for trying to stop Customs officers at the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry terminal in Sheung Wan from checking her handbag, which was later found to contain a tiny amount of the drug “ice”.

Cheryll Salvador, 33, was sentenced to three months in jail, suspended for two years, for possessing 0.32 grams of the drug.

She was also given three months suspended sentence for possessing equipment to inhale the narcotic, and 14 days for “attempting to export” several tablets of a regulated drug.

Salvador had earlier pleaded guilty to all four charges when she appeared before

Magistrate Lam Tsz-kam in Eastern Court.

The prosecution said in a report the defendant was in the airport’s departure hall at 11:03 pm on Nov 23 when she was stopped by Customs officers for bag inspection. But instead of handing her bag, she started searching her bag, saying she needed a candy.

Suspecting that there was contraband in Salvador’s handbag, a female officer tried to take away the bag, but the Filipina resisted. As a result, the officer suffered an injury in her left hand.  She was treated at Queen Mary Hospital for tenderness and redness of the left hand and found to have suffered a fracture.

Salvador was arrested and cautioned by another officer, who searched the bag afterwards and found a plastic bag and a glass beaker containing the drug.

The arresting officer also found four foil packs containing five tablets of zopiclone, a regulated drug listed as Part 1 poison. 

In mitigation, the Duty Service-assigned lawyer said the diminutive Salvador was rushing to catch a ferry to Macau as she had to check in an hour later for a flight to Manila.

The defendant was said to be depressed at the time because she had broken off with her boyfriend just the night before. In fact, Salvador had bought the packet of “ice” for $100 outside a Wanchai bar to ease her depression, her counsel said.

Salvador, who had a clear record in Hong Kong, was remorseful and had pleaded guilty, thus a fine or a suspended sentence would be appropriate, said the lawyer.

He said Salvador was working for a sportswear company in Manila that supplied its products to Hong Kong shops, earning her “thousands of dollars a month”. 

Lam said he would impose a $2,000 fine on Salvador for struggling with the Customs officer who was just doing her job. He meted the suspended jail sentences for the drug offenses.