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Young Filipina DH found floating in Lam Tin pool passes away

Posted on 23 September 2020 No comments

By Daisy CL Mandap

Adrelyn's Facebook cover photo shows her in one of her favorite pastime activities

Mystery surrounds the death of Andrelyn Peralta Onera, 28, who was found floating in a pool in Laguna City estate in Lam Tin on Sunday afternoon.

Onera, described by her family and friends as a fun-loving but responsible person, was declared dead at United Christian Hospital at around 3pm today, Sept 23.

She had been on life support since she was fished from the water by a Laguna City lifeguard, and was reportedly given only 20 percent of survival.

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The exact cause of her death is unknown.

Her younger half-sister, Jenny Mae Bandillon, told The SUN that the doctors at United Christian had ruled out drowning as the cause of death because there was hardly any water inside Adrelyn’s body.

But there were no signs, either, or any fractures or concussion, eliminating the widely held theory that she had slipped and hit her head on a hard surface.

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According to Mae, the doctor thinks Adrelyn’s body just stopped beating while she was in the water, and had asked if the deceased had any pre-existing ailment, or if they had a history of heart problems.

However, Mae says her “ate” had always been strong and physically active, spending her rest days mostly doing outdoor activities like swimming in the open sea, or hiking.

She was known to be a fit  and daring swimmer and hiker

On the day she died, Adrelyn reportedly spent the morning resting inside her room, then chatted over lunch with her son who will turn 12 on Sept. 27. In the afternoon, she borrowed the access pass to the estate’s swimming pool from her employer then left.

About 30 minutes later, the employer reportedly said the police and the estate’s lifeguard had come knocking on their door to say Adrelyn had been taken to hospital after she was found floating lifeless on the pool.

In-between sobs, Mae painted a picture of a loving mother, daughter and big sister in Adrelyn, who took on the responsibility as the family’s breadwinner at a young age.

While singlehandedly raising a son, Adrelyn also sent her four younger siblings to school, provided for their widowed mother, and even managed to buy her own house in their hometown of Dingle, Iloilo.

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At about 8pm every night, Adrelyn would video-chat with her family in Dingle and in Quezon City where Mae and a brother have moved for work. Sometimes, says Mae, Adrelyn’s young ward to whom she was very close, would also join them.

It was thus a surprise, says Mae, when her ate did not initiate their usual video chat that day. About two hours later, she got a call from one of Adrelyn’s friends who said her ate was in the hospital’s ICU and was comatose.

Mae says she did not believe this at first because she could see that her ate was “online” on messenger. Hoping against hope, she kept calling Adrelyn, but received no reply.

Tunghayan ang isa na namang Kwentong Dream Love

Finally, after several tries, someone picked up the call. It was Adrelyn’s employer, who confirmed the heartbreaking news.

Adrelyn’s family is now planning to write a letter to Consul General Raly Tejada to ask for help in urging the Hong Kong Police to conduct a full and thorough investigation into her death. Through this, hopefully, they could put a closure to the tragic event. 

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Amount of loot allegedly stolen by Filipina DH cut to $106k

Posted on No comments

By Vir B. Lumicao

The valuables were allegedly taken from the employer's flat in City Garden, North Point


A Filipina helper was told today, Sept 23, that the total amount of cash and jewelry she is accused of stealing from her employer in North Point has been reduced by $42,000 because of an apparent miscalculation in the value of a jewelry set.

But this left 40-year-old Aileen Rima still facing charges of stealing cash and jewelry worth a total of more than $106,000 belonging to her employer, Elena Chan.

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In the amended charge, Rima is accused of stealing a necklace and pendant set valued at $15,000 (from $57,000), as well as $4,810 local currency, 600 euros, US$2,000 and US$8,300. The amendment substantially reduced the value of the loot to $106,150.

Chan claimed she had kept the jewelry and the money in a safe inside her house in City Garden at 233 Electric Road, and discovered they were missing on Aug 5.

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Rima was originally set to enter a plea today but Eastern Court Magistrate Bina Chainrai deferred the plea-taking after the prosecution announced it had amended the charge.

Chainrai adjourned the case until Nov 11 and refused Rima’s bail application.

 

Ex-DH jailed 8 months for rent scam

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By Vir B. Lumicao

Defendant's BOC account was used to trick would-be tenants to transfer money


An overstaying Filipina helper who said she lent her ATM card to a woman who used it to launder $53,000 obtained through scams was sentenced to 8 months in jail at Eastern Court today, Sept 23.

Magistrate Bina Chainrai also sentenced A.L. Cabanban, 39, to four weeks’ jail for breaching her condition of stay, which will run concurrently with the other penalty.

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Cabanban was dismissed by her employer on Apr 9 last year but remained illegally in Hong Kong after failing to find a new employer before her 14-day visa extension lapsed on Apr 23.

She said in a statement to investigators that during her illegal stay, she met a woman named Myla who borrowed her Bank of China ATM card and its password in exchange for a $3,000 fee.

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Cabanban said she knew nothing about the huge amounts of cash that went in and out of her account. 

She was arrested on Apr 17 this year at the Skyline Tower Immigration office in Kowloon Bay, the prosecution said. Her lawyer, however, said in mitigation that she was there purposely to surrender.

Police initially charged Cabanban on Apr 20 with two counts of obtaining property by deception after investigators of a rental scam that duped two men of $35,000 in total traced a bank account used in the deception to her.

Victims Lee Hok-bun, a Chinese, and Rupert Nicholas Bickmore, a Briton, said they were conned after they replied separately in January 2019 to an online advertisement for a rental flat in Central.

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They called a Whatsapp number given in the ad and a person who replied told them to make a rental deposit $14,000 and $21,000, respectively, to a BOC account.

After a month, the person later asked for a further deposit of one month’s rent. When they didn’t do so, the person became unreachable, so they reported to police.

Tunghayan ang isa na namang Kwentong Dream Love

Investigators found that, apart from the $35,000 that Lee and Bickmore deposited, other deposits were made to the account between Oct 23 last year and Jan 28 this year, bringing the total to $52,770.

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53-year-old Filipina DH found dead in bedroom

Posted on 22 September 2020 No comments

By Vir B. Lumicao

The helper lived with her employer in the Aquamarine in Lai Chi Kok

A 53-year-old Filipina domestic helper was found dead yesterday, Sept 21, on the floor of her locked bedroom in her employer’s flat in Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, police confirmed today.

The maid, surnamed Jano, was found unconscious Monday by police officers and firemen who responded to an emergency call made around 10am by her 75-year-old male employer who lives in the Aquamarine residential estate at 8 Sham Shing Road.

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The employer reported that the maid had collapsed, apparently hearing her fall to the floor.

According to a police spokeswoman the responding team forced the locked bedroom door open and found Jano lying on the floor. The officers found no suspicious circumstances and no suicide note.

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The maid was certified dead and sent to Kwai Chung Public Mortuary by the officers, the spokeswoman said.

She added that investigation into the woman’s death was ongoing. In the meantime, the case has been classified as “dead body found.”

Filipina helpers in the estate who recalled chatting with the deceased only last Sunday were shocked upon hearing of Jano’s death. According to one of them, the deceased looked fine at the time.

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Two FDHs linked to earlier infections among 8 new Covid-19 cases

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By Daisy CL Mandap


CE Lam reports a significant drop in the number of new infections

Two foreign domestic helpers whose nationalities were not disclosed, were among eight new local cases of Covid-19 reported today, Sept 22.

The news came as Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced a drop in the number of local cases in the past week, particularly those with unknown source.

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In a press briefing, the top official said that of the 67 confirmed cases within the period, 44 – or 2/3 - were imported, and of the 22 local cases, only 7 had untraceable sources, or “an average of one per day.”

“It shows that in the third wave, the situation is stabilizing,” Lam said. “However, given the fact that there are still cases with unknown source, that means there is still a hidden transmission chain in the community. Members of the public should not let their guards down, we cannot afford to do so.”

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CE Lam announced that the new gathering restrictions that took effect last week will be extended for another week.

These include limiting public gatherings to no more than four to a group, extending the dining hours in restaurants until midnight, and reopening theme parks, clubs, karaoke bars, swimming pools, gyms and other sports facilities.

It's still 4 to a group for at least another week, says the CE

Health authorities did not hold their usual press conference today, so members of their press team could only give basic information about the new cases.

Both helpers in the list appear to have been infected at their workplace, or their employers’ respective houses, as they’re described as linked to earlier infections. They were both asymptomatic.

The first, identified as Case No 5041, is 30 years old and lives with her employers at Block 1 Venice Gardens in Tuen Mun.

The other, Case No 5043, is 23 years old and is a resident of Block A, Fok Lin Building in Hung Hom.

The third other local case is a 14-year-old girl who developed symptoms on Sept 20, and is also linked to previous infections. She lives in Lok Man House in Lok Fu Estate in Wong Tai Sin where three cases were previously reported, the last one being a 69-year-old woman was found infected on Sept 17.

Tunghayan ang isa na namang Kwentong Dream Love

Five were imported cases, all returnees from India. They arrived just before flights to India were suspended for two weeks because of a surge in the number of their passengers testing positive on arrival in Hong Kong.

The A 39-year-old man flew in aboard an Emirates flight on Sunday, Sept 20, while the four others who appear to belong to the same family, tested positive while under quarantine at Ramada Hotel in North Point.

The four patients, all females aged 5, 9, 36 and 40, all arrived on Sept 11 via Air India Flight AI310.

The new cases brought the city’s tall to 5,046 with 103 related deaths.

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Filipino tourist wins right to appeal conviction in US$500b fake instruments case

Posted on No comments

 By The SUN

Appeal judge found the Filipino's lawyer failed to follow his client's instructrions

A High Court judge has allowed a Filipino businessman to appeal his conviction for passing off US$500 billion worth of forged documents as genuine to a bank executive two years ago.

But David G. Morano, Jr., who was ordered jailed for three years after his conviction on Oct 2 last year, failed to get leave to appeal his sentence.

In his judgment handed down on Sept 16, Court of Appeal Justice Ian McWalters ruled that Morano’s counsel in his District Court trial had failed to follow his client’s instructions in questioning a witness.

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In his application for leave to appeal, Morano said barrister John Hemmings who was defending him, did not carry out his instruction to tell the trial judge during his cross-examination of prosecution witness Miss So that she was not the bank staff he talked to.

Morano said Hemmings stopped him because So was then inconsistent in her statement and the lawyer was apparently waiting for the witness to make more inconsistencies.

Justice McWalters said in his reasons for judgment he saw it “reasonably arguable” that the only proper course for a barrister was to ask the judge for time to talk with his client about his instructions. If the client insists, the barrister must put them across, he said. 

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“Of course, I must emphasize that merely crossing the threshold of reasonable arguability does not mean that the ground will succeed and that even if the Court of Appeal was persuaded of its merit, it does not mean that the conviction must be quashed,” he said.

Morano, who looks middle-aged, was found guilty on a charge of using a false instrument after a six-day trial before District Court Judge David Dufton on Oct 2 last year.

Dufton ruled that Morano knew the documents he handed to the HSBC staff, Miss So, were false and had the intention to induce her to accept them as genuine and do some act to her own or any other’s prejudice. 

 

The incident happened on Oct 29, 2018 when Morano presented the fake documents to the staff in HSBC’s head office in Central.

He also produced a color print of a gold plate and 10 other documents purportedly issued by the Philippine and United States governments and the United Nations to show that he was doing charity work.     

He asked the staff for a certification that he had an account in the bank with US$500 billion in savings to back up his request for funding from supporters of a construction project for charity, the prosecution said.

Tunghayan ang isa na namang Kwentong Dream Love

After the staff failed to find in the bank’s database the account number that Morano provided, police were called and he was arrested.

The three persons who were with him, Malaysian and Taiwanese males surnamed Tang and Li, and a Chinese female surnamed He, disappeared when the police arrived.

In upholding Morano’s sentence, Judge McWalters pointed out that the defendant was convicted after trial, came to Hong Kong for a dishonest purpose, and could have caused substantial damage if he succeeded.

“For these reasons I granted the applicant leave to appeal against his conviction and refused him leave to appeal against his sentence,” McWalters said, adding that Morano had the right to re-file his case.

However, the judge said that if Court of Appeal finds no merit in his application, it could order that part of the time he has spent in custody pending his appeal would not be counted as part of the term of his sentence.

He remanded Morano in custody after issuing him an appeal aid certificate so he could have legal representation when he goes back to court to challenge his conviction.

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Appeal court upholds live-in policy ruling for FDHs

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By Daisy CL Mandap

Bed in kitchen: This is what live-out advocates want stopped

The Court of Appeal has rejected an application to overturn the lower court’s decision upholding the legality of the Hong Kong government’s live-in policy for foreign domestic helpers.

Filipina DH Nancy A. Lubiano filed the appeal against Court of First Instance Judge Anderson Chow’s decision in February 2018 dismissing her application for a judicial review of the policy which she said was unlawful and discriminatory. 

For the appeal, her counsel narrowed down the argument to claiming that forcing FDHs to live with their employers violated their right to a rest day and limited work hours as provided under art 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

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But in its decision handed down Monday, Sept 20, the appeal court said that FDHs cannot claim such rights as they do not even have the right to enter and remain in Hong Kong.

Further, the court agreed with Judge Chow that the risk of abuse is not heightened by the worker having to live with her employer. Their close proximity while inside the house could expose the worker to ill-treatment while at work, regardless of whether he/she also lives in the employer’s residence. 

The decision was concurred in by Vice President Johnson Lam and Justices Aarif Barma and Au Hing-cheung.

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Solicitors for the appellant, Daly & Associates called the judgment disappointing saying it was a “judicial stamp determining that foreign domestic workers are not worthy of the basic rights afforded to others who live and work in Hong Kong lawfully.”

The statement further said that the live-in policy was symptomatic of the “wider systemic discrimination faced by FDWs in Hong Kong”. Given that laws meant to protect them are hardly enforced, it was up to the courts to set this right.

The government, however, applauded the decision, saying the decision underlined the long-established government policy that locals should be given priority in employment and foreign workers should only be allowed in if there are manpower shortages.

The statement said that before coming to Hong Kong, FDHs sign an agreement saying they can only live with their employers.

“In other words, FDHs are fully aware of the "live-in requirement" before signing the contract and they are admitted to Hong Kong on such basis,” said the statement.

It further said that FDHs whose rights are violated could always turn to the Labour and Immigration Departments for help and redress.


Government has always said that while the policy had been part of the FDW importation scheme from the early 1980s, it was only included in their standard employment contract in April 2003. Before this, FDWs and their employers could agree on whether they wanted a live-in arrangement or not.

Since its implementation, migrant support organizations have been trying to get the policy withdrawn, alleging it has left FDWs vulnerable to abuse. But it took Lubiano’s landmark challenge to get the issue heard in court.

During the appeal hearing on Mar 17 and 18, Lubiano’s counsel Paul Hsieh, SC, said FDHs should be allowed to live outside of their employers’ house to ensure they get a full rest on their only day off each week.

 

Hsieh says infringing on a right “does not only refer to the actual taking away, but also to any act that heightens the risk of that right being taken away.”

He cited two studies made by NGOs Justice Center and the Mission for Migrant Workers that showed most FDWs are made to work, before and after taking their day off. 

In another survey conducted by three migrant support groups and published on Mar 16, it was shown that the coronavirus outbreak had led to new kinds of contract violations by employers. About 40% (160,000) of those surveyed said they had not been out of their employer’s home for at least a month, with only half saying this was with their consent.



Many OFWs camp out on their days off to get some breathing space

But Hsieh was quick to point out that he was not advocating that all FDWs be allowed to live out as that would be unrealistic, but to return to the previous practice of making a live-in arrangement optional.

Benjamin Yu, SC, who appeared for the respondent Director of Immigration, said there was no need to refer to international laws when it came to protecting FDH rights.

The Employment Ordinance already clearly states that every FDH is entitled to a rest day per week, and there are channels for redress already set up if this is not followed.

In his ruling, Judge Chow was more forthright, saying the live-in arrangement was something that the FDWs could accept or not even before they come to Hong Kong.

“If, prior to coming to Hong Kong, he/she considers the Live-In Requirement to amount to an unacceptable invasion of his/her personal or private rights, he/she can of course choose to remain in his/her home country, or work in some other countries which do not have such requirement,” said Chow in his judgment.

Then, after coming to Hong Kong, the FDW finds the policy unacceptable, he or she can still terminate the employment contract by giving a month’s notice, said the judge.

Earlier stories here: 

https://www.sunwebhk.com/2020/03/live-in-policy-put-migrant-workers.html

https://www.sunwebhk.com/2018/03/ngo-blasts-court-for-rejecting_9.html

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