Two Filipinas charged with using fake work contracts to get domestic helper visas, including one who is 71 years old, managed to get their cases postponed at Shatin Court yesterday because they were not defended by a lawyer.
But 71-year old Virginia Jovilla, and her co-accused Elynette Montalban, 43, were warned that they will have to enter a plea and their prosecution will proceed in the next hearing whether or not they have a lawyer.
Jovilla and Montalban each faces two charges of conspiracy to defraud for submitting fake work contracts to the Immigration Department and getting permission to stay in Hong Kong.
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They waited in vain the whole morning for their cases to be called. Jovilla was called about 3pm, and Magistrate David Chum noted that she was not represented, although she was given a lawyer for free by the Duty Lawyer Service in the previous hearing.
“I was not informed that I would need a lawyer now,” she said. “I want to plead guilty but I think I need a lawyer now.”
Magistrate Chum stood down the case and allowed Jovilla to go to the Duty Lawyer Service office within the building.
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He then called Montalban, who was holding a baby and was also unrepresented.
She said he failed to get a duty lawyer because she was required to have a bank account, which she did not have because she had no Hong Kong ID.
Chum also stood down the case to allow Montalban to go to the Duty Lawyer office.
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When they came back, saying there were no lawyers available, Chum adjourned their cases separately.
He told them to come back on Jan. 16, extended their $1,000 bail with a new condition: that they will not leave Hong Kong while the case is pending.
Chum went the extra mile because as charged, the two were at risk of being imprisoned.
Jovilla faces two counts of conspiracy to defraud. She was accused of entering into two separate fake work contracts with Kung Yee-chee and Lee Wai-kong, with the help of agents Liu Chung-hang and Kathleen Vizcarra, which resulted in Immigration officers granting her permission to enter and remain in Hong Kong.
Montalban is charged with entering into a fake work contract with Tan Ka-ki with the help of the same agents and got a visa from Immigration, which it would not otherwise have granted.
Vizcarra was also named as co-conspirator of two Filipinas who admitted submitting two fake employment contracts in succession, which resulted in them being sentenced on Tuesday to six months in jail after pleading guilty to the charges.
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