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Anti-‘Terror Bill’ campaigners vow to continue protests

Posted on 04 July 2020 No comments
By Daisy CL Mandap

Filipino community groups in HK have vowed to keep protesting against the anti-terror law

Critics of the anti-terrorism bill which was signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte late on Jul 3, have vowed to continue their opposition to the highly unpopular measure, including Filipino community leaders in Hong Kong.

The new law which takes effect after its publication in the Official Gazette, gives the president, through an anti-terrorism council, vast powers to identify individuals or groups as “terrorists” and have them detained for up to 24 days without charges.

Those found guilty of the crime of terrorism face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
But the grim prospect of being arrested and prosecuted for the offense has not cowed critics of the new law, including migrant leaders in Hong Kong.

“Laban lang tayo, pagkatapos ng dilim may liwanag,” said Dolores Balladares, one of the convenors of the Filipino Community in Hong Kong Against the Anti-Terrorism Bill.

Balladares said the group will hold another rally this Sunday, Jul 5, to show its disgust at the passing of what they have dubbed as the “Terror Bill.”
“Sa halip na matakot, lalong lalakas ang diwa ng paglaban. Walang forever, may hangganan din ang kapangyarihan ni Duterte. Sa huli mamamayan pa rin ang magpapasya sa dapat nilang kalagyan,” Balladares said.

In the Philippines, opposition lawmakers were among the first to hit back. Pro-government senators and members of Congress, on the other hand, praised Duterte for signing the bill despite widespread opposition.
 
Game not over yet, says Pangilinan
Senator Francis Pangilinan denounced Duterte’s signing of the law, but said it came as no surprise given what he called the administration’s “draconian” and “authoritarian brand of leadership.

“From the murderous drug war to the longest martial law in Mindanao to the longest lockdown in the world, and now to the anti-terror law…hindi pa tapos ang boksing. Hindi pa tapos ang laban,” said Pangilinan.


Senator Risa Hontiveros, who along with Pangilinan was the only other senator who opposed the bill, said it was clear from its signing that the administration’s priority is not the health of the Filipnos but to kill the people’s freedom.

 “While the country’s Covid-19 cases have gone past 40,000 and while 7.3 million Filipinos have lost their jobs and livelihood, Malacañang has instead signed the Anti-Terrorism Law that it will use to trample on Filipinos’ basic rights and freedoms,” she said in a statement.

Tinghayan ang isa na namang kwentong Dream Love
 “Pero hindi tayo papatinag. Mas lalo nating palalakasin ang ating boses laban sa paniniil ng ating kalayaan. They will hear the people sing,” she added.


(But we will not be silenced. Our voices will be much louder to protest this oppression on our freedom. They will hear the people sing).
They will hear the people sing, says Hontiveros

In the lower house, Rep. Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna said: “We will show them that in the face of repression, an awakened people will resist and fight back.”

They were joined by various human rights campaigners, lawyers, media personalities and celebrities in denouncing the new law.

Various groups, including one led by retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, have vowed to challenge the law in court for being unconstitutional.

On the other hand, Senator Panfilo Lacson, who was one of the principal authors of the bill, said: “I cannot imagine this measure being signed under another administration. If only for this, I take my hat off to the president.”

Lacson vowed to exert extra effort in guarding against any possible abuse in the law’s implementation.
 
Lacson praised Duterte for signing the bill
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he was glad the president “sifted through the rubble and saw the importance of the law.”

Another administration senator, Francis Tolentino, called the new law “very timely and historic.”

The anti-terror bill had been before the Senate since 2018, but was approved on its third and final reading on Feb. 26 by a vote of 19-2, with Pangilinan and Hontiveros casting the only dissenting votes.

Pindutin para sa latest Winners!
After it was certified as urgent by Duterte, the usually fractious House of Representatives adopted the Senate version in full on Jun 3 this year, with barely a week of deliberations. The leadership refused to entertain any proposed amendment to address the issues on constitutionality.


Even as some congressmen withdrew their votes in favor of the bill eventually, the leaders of both the House and the Senate submitted the bill for Duterte’s signature on Jun 9. If he did not sign it, the bill would have lapsed into law after a month, or by Jul 9.

Last night in Hong Kong, the Filcom group opposed to the bill held an online forum with Rep. Zarate, noted human rights lawyer Manuel “Chel” Diokno, and Bishop Reuel Marigza, general secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

All the speakers told the forum participants that opposing the bill was the right thing to do as it was unconstitutional, dangerous, and anti-God.

The new Anti-Terrorism Law replaces the Human Security Act of 2007 and aims to punish those who will propose, incite, conspire, and participate in the planning, training, preparation, and facilitation of a terrorist act.

Likewise punished will be those who will provide material support to terrorists and recruit members in a terrorist organization.

Diokno assailed the unclear definition of terrorism under the law, and the unbridled power given to the executive to identify so-called terrorists and keep them in custody far longer that the three days allowed under the Philippine Constitution.

He also rejected claims by some of the bill’s supporters, in particular Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez, that those labeled as terrorists can only be arrested under a warrant issued by the court.

The human rights lawyer said the law is clear that the anti-terrorism council has the sole power to authorize law enforcers to arrest anyone suspected as being a terrorist, and hold them without charges for 14 days, extendible for a further 10 days.
 
The 3 speakers at the Filcom forum in HK called on Filipinos to continue opposing the oppressive law 

Zarate called on all Filipinos to oppose the passage of the bill, and if they fail, support the legal challenge that will be filed in the Supreme Court against it, as well as any legislative steps that will be pursued to amend or repeal the new law.

At the same time, he said an education campaign should be pursued to inform other Filipinos about the dangers contained in the new law, and if all else fails, continue protesting against it in all fora.

“Nasa ating kamay ang tunay na pagbabago,” he said.
(Real change is in our hands)

Bishop Marigza concurred, and quoted the Constitution: “Sovereignty resides in the people, and all government authority emanates from them.”

He also called on Filipinos to continue fighting for what is right, and said prayer should always be accompanied by action.

Sana tayong mga kumikilos ngayon, kung hindi man ngayon, sana ang mga sumusunod sa atin, ang ating mga anak, ay hindi na magdurusa.”

(“Hopefully those of us taking action now, if not today, hopefully in future, the ones who will come after us our children, will no longer suffer.”)

Diokno said that he never lost faith in the Filipinos’ ability to triumph over adversity.

“You can never underestimate the power of the people’s spirit,” he said. “Parang dilim lang ng gabi yan, darating din ang liwanag”.
(That’s just like darkness during the night, the light will come out eventually).

2 Filipinas cleared while Indon fined for overcharging jobseeker

Posted on 03 July 2020 No comments
By The SUN
Only $500 was involved in the case of the 2 Filipinas charged with excessive collection of agency fees

An Indonesian woman who claimed to be a staff of an employment agency was fined $3,600 today, Jul 3, at Kowloon City Court for overcharging a jobseeker.

In contrast, two Filipina staff of another employment agency were acquitted last week of collecting $500 from a job applicant instead of the $452, or 10% of her first salary which she should have paid, a difference of just $48.
Magistrate Dick Lee cleared Juliet Balicao and Melanie Fisher of a charge of “excessive commission” filed by the Employment Agencies Administration following a complaint of overcharging made by Filipina job seeker, Maribel Madeja.

Madeja, who was placed by the two between January and February last year, said the $500 was collected by the agents as guarantee that she would return to Hong Kong after going home for an emergency.
She claimed she was charged an additional $500 by the two for their services when she went back to the agency.

The magistrate, however, rejected the domestic helper’s evidence as incredible and unreliable.
 
Kowloon City Court ruled on the excessive fee collection against Best Ka Hei
In today’s case, Indonesian Sri Utami, who reportedly introduced herself as a staff of Best Ka Hei Employment Agency, was fined by Kowloon City magistrate Erica Chong for charging an excessive commission from a job applicant.

A government press release did not state the amount that was collected from the complainant.

The jobseeker filed a complaint in April 2019 against Utami and a staff of the agency which has an office in Kowloon City, and the Employment Agencies Administration decided to prosecute.


The agency’s staff was prosecuted in Kowloon City Court earlier and fined $3,000 after conviction.

Under the Employment Ordinance, an agency licensee, his associate, or a person purporting to act in such capacities, is not allowed to collect more than 10% of a job applicant’s monthly salary upon successful placement.
    
The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2018, which took effect on Feb 9, 2018, has raised the maximum penalty for overcharging job seekers to a fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years.
    
For enquiries or complaints about unlicensed operations or overcharging by employment agencies, call the EAA at 2115 3667, or visit its office at Unit 906, 9/F, One Mong Kok Road Commercial Centre, 1 Mong Kok Road, Kowloon.

New arrival from Phl among 5 new infected cases in HK

Posted on No comments
By The SUN

The new Covid-19 case from the Phl flew in from Ninoy Aquino Intl Airport on Jul 2

A 26-year-old woman who flew from Manila and arrived in Hong Kong with a cough yesterday is among five new Covid-19 cases reported today, Jul 3.

The woman, likely a domestic worker, was transferred directly to Princess Margaret Hospital in Kowloon for treatment after testing positive at the AsiaWorld-Expo near the airport.

The four other confirmed cases included a nine-year-old girl from Pakistan, a three-year-old boy from India, a 33-year-old woman from Kazakhstan, and a 49-year-old woman from Britain.
All, except the woman from Kazakhstan who had a cough and sore throat, were asymptomatic.

The two children were transferred to hospital from quarantine centers while the third was moved from Regal Kowloon Hotel, and the fourth, from AsiaWorld-Expo.

They brought Hong Kong’s total tally to 1,248.
As the number of arriving travelers has increased substantially in recent week, the Department of Health is considering an adjustment of the test result waiting arrangement.

If the day’s new arrivals exceed the capacity of the AsiaWorld testing centre and the holding center at Regal Oriental Hotel, travelers who fly in from areas with lower risk will be allowed to home quarantine after submitting their saliva samples at the airport. If they test positive they will be taken to a hospital for treatment and their close contacts to a quarantine center.

As at noon today, five Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital in the past 24 hours. A total of 1,125 patients with confirmed or probable infection have been discharged.
Still in hospital are 111 confirmed patients, one of whom is in critical condition (case number: 595) while the others are stable.

The Hospital Authority says it has enough personal protective equipment in stock, enough to last three months. These include 30 million surgical masks, 2.6 million surgical respirators, 5.1 million protective gowns and 8.3 million face shields.

PHL posts biggest single-day Covid-19 tally of 1,531

Posted on No comments
By The SUN

The official tally is now more than 40,000, but another report shows it's at least 52,000
The Philippines has recorded its biggest single-day coronavirus infection tally with 1,531 additional cases reported as of 4pm today, Jul 3. The country’s total official tally now stands at 40,336.

However, the Department of Health no longer posts the country’s total confirmed cases on the same day. Yesterday, the total “positive tests” was 52,188 out of 720,918 individuals tested, an increase of more than 2,000 from the previous day’s 50,077.

The DOH has said the positive cases in this other table are unverified, and some cases could have been reported twice.
 
Yesterday's daily statistics show that the number of positive results had already reached 52,188 

Today’s upsurge came a day after the DOH reported an an unusually low figure of 294 additional confirmed cases, which it attributed to an adjustment in its data extraction process.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Thursday’s data covered only 19 hours, as the DOH adjusted the time it extracted data from the Covid-Kaya system, the official data platform.
Vergeire said the objective of the change was to deliver more “timely” data.

Of today’s record-breaking daily tally, 688 were classified as “fresh” cases, meaning the results were made known to the patient within the past three days, and 843 were “late” cases.

Six more people reportedly died from Covid-19, raising the death toll to 1,280.  
Recovered patients numbered 11,073 with a record 400 recoveries on a single day.

The department said the results were culled from 68 testing laboratories around the country that tested 704,549 individuals.

The number of new cases today surpassed the previous biggest daily tally of new confirmed cases on Jun 23, when 1,150 new patients were reported.
Of the newly reported cases, 413 were from the National Capital Region and 301 from Region 7 or Central Visayas, which includes Cebu City, the new epicenter of the contagion in the country.

The government shifted its focus on curbing the coronavirus pandemic on Cebu City after Covid-19 cases there rose sharply in recent weeks.

1,500 more Filipino migrant workers lost job in June

Posted on No comments
By Vir B. Lumicao

The FDH population continues to drop despite the resumption of deployment from the Philippines   

The Filipino domestic helper population in Hong Kong has dropped by nearly 1,500 last month, despite the arrival of a bigger number of workers who arrived from the Philippines in the same period.

According to Labour Secretary Law Chi-kwong on Saturday, June 27, the number of Filipino DHs who entered in the past month was around 1,700, meaning the job losses should have been offset, but were not.

The latest Immigration statistics show the Filipino FDH population in June was 211,426, down by 1,490 from the May figure. The drop was worse in April, when 2,941 FDH jobs were lost as Hong Kong’s economy continued to take a beating amid the pandemic.
Pindutin para sa detalye
Since February, the cumulative job losses for Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong has reached 8,309. There is no immediate relief in sight as Law said the government prefers to keep the number steady, in line with its policy of restricting people's movements into the city. 

The data from Immigration show a similar drop in the Indonesian domestic helper population, with 849 losing their jobs in June.

However, the statistics do not show the actual number of Filipino helpers who are still in Hong Kong, as hundreds appear to have taken advantage of Immigration’s decision to extend their visas because of pandemic-related travel restrictions in the Philippines.
Those already on visitor visa are terminated workers who have difficulty returning to their hometowns in the Philippines because of canceled flights or the unpredictable testing and quarantine system that are in place in the country.

Immigration has eased the “two-week rule” during the crisis to help terminated workers find new employers. However, they are still not allowed to take up their new jobs unless they have gone on home leave, or “exited” from Hong Kong.

The Immigration figures also do not include the thousands who were either stranded or unable to complete the processing of their exit visas in the Philippines, and were eventually fired by their employers who couldn’t wait for them any longer.
In early June, the Department of Labor and Employment admitted the pandemic and community lockdown to keep it in check had left 7.3 million Filipinos jobless, resulting in the country’s highest unemployment rate of 17.7%.

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the lockdown during the community quarantine from March to May had also caused a huge 55.6% drop in the labor force participation rate, the lowest in the country’s labor market history.

The figure could still rise dramatically, as tens of thousands more overseas Filipino workers have lost their jobs abroad, but are still unable to return home due to lockdowns and travel restrictions in their place of work.

Foreign domestic helper population in Hong Kong, 2020

As of end of Month/Year
Philippines
Indonesia
India
Other nationalities
Total -- all nationalities
Jan-20
219,728
170,898
4,838
4,657
400,121
Feb-20
217,654
171,291
4,857
4,619
398,421
Mar-20
218,002
170,318
4,818
4,594
397,732
Apr-20
215,061
167,747
4,723
4,493
392,024
May-20
212,855
165,377
4,664
4,446
387,342
Jun-20
211,426
164,528

Inc India    9,052
385,006
Source: Immigration Department




Normal na ang serbisyong postal sa Pilipinas

Posted on No comments
Mapapabilis na serbisyong postal sa Pilkipinas at ilan pang lugar. (Photo: https://www.youth.gov.hk) 


Naibalik na sa normal mula ngayon (June 3) ang lahat ng serbisyo sa Pilipinas ng Hongkong Post, kasama na ang Speedpost, dahil sa unti--unti pagbabalik sa normal ng mga lipad papunta sa bansa, ayon sa isang anunsyo ng gobyerno.

Ang Pilipinas ay isa sa mga lugar kung saan naibalik na sa normal ang lahat ng serbisyong postal.


Pindutin para sa detalye

Mapapabilis na rin ang serbisyo sa mga lugar na gaya ng United Kingdom, na kung saan ang mga ipinadalang sulat ay umabot ng hanggang tatlong buwan bago nai-deliver dahil ikinarga sa barko.

Pero sinabi sa anunsyo na dapat pa ring asahan ang pagka-antala ng ilang padala dahil sa mga hindi inaasahang pangyayari na dulot ng Covid-19 pandemic.

PINDUTIN PARA

Sa Asia, normal na rin ang serbisyo sa India.

Ang iba pang lugar at ang mga serbisyong kasama sa unti-unting pagbalik sa normal ay:

United Kingdom: Speedpost, e-Express al lahat ng serbisyong surface mail.


France, Poland, Spain at Switzerland at Estonia: lahat ng postal service, kasama na ang Speedpost,

Ang lagay ng serbisyong koreo sa iba pang mga lugar ay matutunghayan sa https://www.hongkongpost.hk/en/about_us/whats_new/notices/index_id_942.html.



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