The SUN HK

DH fined $1,500 for theft of goodies at supermarket

Posted on 16 January 2020 No comments

By Vir B. Lumicao

The theft happened at this Wellcome branch in Mid-Levels

A 33-year-old Filipina helper has been fined $1,500, nearly double the value of chocolates and other food items she admitted stealing from a supermarket in Mid-Levels on Dec 12 last year.

D. Hablan, a mother of two who has worked in Hong Kong for five years, pleaded guilty on Jan 16 to a charge of theft before Eastern Magistrate Veronica Heung.

The prosecution said Hablan, who works in Mid-Levels, went to the Wellcome Supermarket at 99 Caine Road around 8:20am and took an assortment of goods from the store shelves and put them in her shopping bag.

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Unknown to her, Hablan was seen by a Filipina staff putting the items in her bag and then got out of the supermarket without paying for the goods at the cashier.

The staff intercepted Hablan outside the store and checked her bag.

Inside were 13 packs of chocolate, three packs of marshmallows, two packs of candies and four cans of Spam luncheon meat worth a total of $761.20, all belonging to Wellcome Supermaket.

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The staff reported the theft to the police and Hablan was arrested. She was later granted police bail of $500.

In mitigation, the defendant’s counsel from the Duty Lawyer Service said Hablan, who has a farmer husband, had a financial problem because her family had spent money on the hospitalization of one of her daughters

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The lawyer said his client was very remorseful and asked for a lenient sentence as the stolen goods were recovered.

After her sentencing, Hablan begged for three weeks’ time to pay the fine.

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HK OFWs start fund drive for Taal victims

Posted on 13 January 2020 No comments

By The SUN

Thick volcanic ash covers entire houses in Agoncillo, Batangas (photo from DWC)

At least two groups in Hong Kong have launched a fund drive for those displaced by the eruption of Taal volcano in Batangas, Philippines. Taal, considered as the country’s second most active volcano, last erupted in 1977.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from areas around the volcano in Talisay town, amid warnings a more explosive eruption could take place in the next few days.

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The entire province of Batangas has been placed in a state of calamity, but many other areas in nearby Cavite and Laguna have also been badly affected. The thick ash spewed by the volcano reached as far as Quezon City, which is about 100 km to the north.

Batangas Varsitarian International Hong Kong, led by Erwin Marqueses, was among the first to appeal for help for those affected by the eruption. He posted an announcement on Facebook asking Filipino community leaders and members for donations, particularly of canned goods, noodles, instant coffee, biscuits, face masks, blankets, towels and soap. “All those things that you think can help,” he said. Cash is also accepted.

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He asked donors to go to Worldwide House this Sunday, Jan. 19, between 9am and 1pm, where the goods will be packed in boxes and sent immediately to Batangas. All cash donations will be used to buy goods that will also go into the boxes.

All the relief goods will be sent to former HK Filcom leader and Bagong Bayani recipient Joseph Bautista, said to be the current chief of the Coast Guard in Batangas. Those who want to send donations directly to him may also do so through this address:

CAPT JOSEPH L BAUTISTA PCGA
Director, 502nd Squadron CGADSTL
Coast Guard District Southern Tagalog Headquarters
Port Area, Sta Clara, Batangas City, Philippines

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An online group made up mostly of newly arrived OFWs in Hong Kong, the Domestic Workers Corner, has also begun soliciting donations for casualties of the eruption.

The fund drive was begun by the group’s founder Rodelia Villar, after several DWC members who hail from the affected areas posted photos of the devastation in their hometowns, along with appeals for prayers.

DWC is asking for cash donations to be sent through WeChat, TNG and Alipay, which in turn will be sent directly to one of its administrators, Jazzy, who will take charge of buying the needed relief goods so they can be sent immediately to the victims. Those who wish to help may check out the announcement on their Facebook page: DWC Help Group.

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Taal volcano erupts; no casualties reported

Posted on No comments

The initial stage of Taal's eruption is caught on camera by Mary Ann Reyes-Mandap, from the Tagaytay Highlands Resort and Residences, before she and her family were advised to leave for safety.

The long-simmering Taal Volcano has begun spewing ash and rocks up to 14 kilometers high on Jan 12, and blanketing neighboring towns in Batangas with a thick layer of sand, before briefly spouting lava overnight.

Philippine authorities have ordered the evacuation of around half a million people in surrounding areas, and warned of a possible explosive eruption in the next few days.

The unexpected eruption was accompanied by more than 140 volcanic earthquakes that rocked Batangas and Laguna towns at magnitude 2 to 5. “Such intense seismic activity probably signifies continuous magma intrusion beneath the Taal edifice, which may lead to further eruptive activity, “the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reported at 3pm on Jan. 13.

No casualties have been reported. Phivolcs officials attributed this to the close monitoring of Taal since March last year, when increased activity was noted and officials of the three barangays on the volcano island were advised to be alert for warnings.

A spectacular shot of the eruption taken by lawyer Dante Pamintuan from his house in Sta Rosa, Laguna

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So when steam started exploding out of the main crater at about 11 am on Jan 12, which resulted after ground water fed by the lake within the island’s main crater touched the upwelling magma underground, the residents were evacuating within an hour, Phivolcs said.

The initial eruption resulted in thick ash clouds that crept north, causing ashfall that made roads hazardous and caused power interruptions in Batangas, Laguna and Cavite.

Phivolcs reported heavy ashfall in Tanauan, Batangas; Escala, Tagaytay; Sta. Rosa, Laguna; Dasmarinas, Bacon, and Silang, Cavite; Malolos, San Jose del Monte, and Meycauayan, Bulacan; Antipolo, Rizal, Quezon City and the cities of Muntinlupa, Las Pinas, Marikina, Paranaque, Pasig, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Manila, Makati and Taguig City in Meto Manila.

Thick ash from the erupting volcano covers the ground in Agoncillo, Batangas (photo from DWC)

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The Manila International Airport was closed when a three-inch layer of ash and sand coated its runways and visibility was reduced to zero. Flights resumed the next morning after cleanup operations. Among those unable to fly in on the first day of eruption was President Rodrigo Duterte; he landed in Manila the next morning.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, chairman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center, said more than 100 military vehicles from the Army, Navy ad the Marines have been sent to evacuate affected residents and clear the roads of volcanic matter. At least 10,000 people have been moved so far with the help of local government units, he added.

Aside from doing relief operations, government agencies have been warning the population to stay indoors and use protective gear to avoid inhaling the smoggy air. The Department of Labor and Employment advised employers to be lenient with employees who are absent because of the ashfall.

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While the ashfall has been reduced, Phivolcs maintained its Alert Level 4 which means “intense unrest, continuing seismic swarms, including harmonic tremor and/or ‘low frequency earthquakes’ which are usually felt, profuse steaming along existing and perhaps new vents and fissures.”

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Elderly Pinoy tourist jailed 4 yrs in biggest fake bank instrument scam

Posted on 12 January 2020 No comments

By The SUN

Defendant said he got the fake deposit slip from the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos

A District Court judge has sentenced an elderly Filipino male tourist to four years in prison after finding him guilty of presenting a fake deposit slip for US$943 billion at the HSBC main office in Central in April 2018.

Judge Stanley Chan convicted and sentenced Brudencio J. Bolaños on Dec 30 on a charge of using a false instrument.

The judge rejected a psychiatrist’s evidence for the defense that Bolaños, who had pleaded not guilty to the charge at the start of his trial on Nov 1, was suffering from a “delusional disorder” when he presented the fake document to HSBC staff.

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He said the government psychologist who examined Bolaños shortly after his arrest on Apr 9, 2018 had cleared him of any mental problem.

Bolaños, who was said to be 70 and single, had claimed that deposed President Ferdinand Marcos personally gave him the US$943 billion to fund a charitable foundation and was deposited in his HSBC account on Jul 25, 1983.

He arrived in Hong Kong on Apr 2, 2018 as a visitor and a week later, went with a Malaysian male who spoke Cantonese and English to the fifth-floor counters of the HSBC head offices in Central where he presented the deposit slip to a staff.

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HSBC assistant manager Cheung Wan-yuet, who testified for the prosecution, invited Bolaños and his escort to the interview room after the staff passed her the spurious document.

Cheung told the court HSBC had no record showing Bolaños had an account in the bank.

The second prosecution witness, officer Deng Tsz-teng, said that when he arrested Bolaños, the elderly man had 10,000 Japanese yen and PhP240.25 in his possession.

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Bolaños at first insisted on seeing HSBC’s global head of banking, a Ms Chen. But when he heard that police officers called by bank staff were coming, he and the Malaysian ran to the escalator. Bolaños was nabbed on the fourth floor but his companion escaped.

Judge Chan said the defendant knew from the start that the bank instrument was false. He said the case had an international element as Bolaños traveled from Manila to carry out the scam in Hong Kong.

“The defendant was definitely not acting alone. Who was his Malaysian companion? Who paid for his fare and his accommodation?” the judge asked.

The amount for the false instrument was the biggest so far in monetary value to have been presented to a bank in Hong Kong and, as in most cases, was linked to the fabled Marcos hidden treasure.

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