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| Filipinos who use their passports as collateral for loans face a tough time getting a replacement |
By Daisy CL Mandap
An officer of the Consulate has quelled speculation that
Filipinos who use their passports as collateral for loans will be sent home
with just a one-way travel document to get them through Hong Kong Immigration.
“It is not our job to send home Filipinos for whatever
reason,” Consul Paulo Saret, head of the Consulate’s assistance to nationals
section said, when told of the borrowers’ fears that they would be yanked out
of their jobs in Hong Kong and told to leave.
Talks of this nature surfaced after hundreds of Filipinos
who borrowed money from an elderly loan shark in Tsuen Wan effectively lost
their passports when they were confiscated by police during a raid on the money
lender’s home on Jul 4.
But Saret warned, replacing the lost passports would be
difficult.
“We won’t give them new passports immediately. We will first
seek the advice of the Head Office when they come to us with a request to renew
their passports,” said Saret.
He also said only three Filipino domestic workers had so far
admitted losing their passports to the loan shark, and asked for replacements.
Their requests have all been sent to the Director of Passports of the
Department of Foreign Affairs for consideration.
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| Consul Saret |
But Saret agreed there could be hundreds of Filipinos who
lost their travel documents in the process.
“We’re still trying to contact the officers in charge to
find out how many of the 859 passports seized from the moneylender belonged to
Filipinos,” he said.
At the same time, he said he would seek ways to get Hong
Kong authorities to make money lenders realize the risk that they are taking by
giving unsecured loans to domestic workers,
“We will meet with them (authorities) and maybe suggest ways
on how both parties could help prevent this from happening again.”
In response to
queries from The SUN, the Hong Kong police
said that a 63-year-old local man was arrested in Tsuen Wan on Jul 4 for
“lending money at excessive interest rates” and “carrying on business as a
money lender without a license.”
The man was
subsequently released on police bail and was told to report back in mid-August
while the Regional Crime Unit of New Territories South continues its
investigation.
Three passports
were seized from the arrested man, and a further 887 passports were found in
his residence in Shek Wai Kok Estate.
An initial
investigation reportedly revealed that the arrested man had offered loans
totaling over $3 million to more than 800 victims with interest that exceeded
the legal rate of 60 per cent per annum. All borrowers were told to surrender
their passports and employment contracts as collateral for the loans.
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| A total of 240 Philippine passports were seized from a money lending syndicate in March last year |
The illicit
operation was reportedly headed by a local couple who hired several Filipinas
to act as their runners or agents. All the victims were foreign domestic
helpers.
Initial reports
indicated the group had made a profit of $12 million in just eight months from
loans totaling $10 million.
According to
the police spokesperson, as of Jul 12 this year, “a 49-year-old local woman, a
50-year-old local man and 12 foreign women aged between 34 and 58 have been
arrested for “conspiracy to lend money at excessive interest rates” and
“conspiracy to blackmail”.
They were
released on police bail and were told to report back in mid-August this year.
Apart from the
passports, also seized from the suspects were employment contracts and $106,000
cash.
According to
the police, their investigation revealed that the arrested persons in this case
“belonged to the same syndicate which offered loans at an effective interest
rate exceeding 120 per cent per annum to about 1,200 foreign domestic helpers
from March to October, 2016.”
The domestic
helpers were asked to surrender their passports and employment contracts as surety for the loans.
