Pilipinang nagbakasyon, nabawi ang maleta 9 na araw matapos mawala

Ni Daisy CL Mandap

 

Ang nawawalang bag ni J Palomar ay nakita 9 na araw matapos siyang dumating sa HK

Sirang sira ang bagong taon ni J Palomar dahil hindi dumating sa Hong Kong kasabay niya ang maleta niyang isinakay sa eroplano ng Cebu Pacific mula pa sa Iloilo noong Dec. 31.

Agad niya itong nireklamo sa Hong Kong International Airport pagdating pero hindi agad nalaman kung ano ang nangyari sa kanyang maleta.

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Nitong January 6 ay humingi na siya ng tulong sa The SUN dahil lagi na lang daw sa “live chat” ng Cebu Pacific sa internet siya pumapasok tuwing magtangka siyang magtanong tungkol sa nawawala niyang bagahe, at “wala naman daw silang magagawa,” sabi niya.

“Ano po kaya ang gagawin ko?”, daing niya. “Stressed na stressed po ako sa mga gamit ko sa bagahe ko.”

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Mga personal na gamit daw ang karamihan sa laman ng maleta niya. “Hindi naman kamahalan pero nanghihinayang pa rin ako,” dagdag niya.

Isang linggo din daw siyang hindi makatulog nang maayos dahil tuwing may gusto siyang gamitin at maalala niyang nasa maleta niya iyon ay napapaiyak siya dahil naiisip niyang madami na naman siyang kailangang bilhin ulit.

Ang mas ikinasasama niya ng loob ay ni wala man lang daw taga Cebu Pacific ang agarang sumagot sa kanya gayong isang linggo mahigit nang nawawala ang gamit niya.

Agad namang isinulat ng The SUN sa Cebu Pacific ang tungkol sa reklamo niya, at pinayuhan siyang pumunta sa assistance to nationals section ng Konsulado para din magpatulong. Ayon kay Palomar, agad din daw nag email ang Konsulado sa airline para I follow-up yung kaso niya.

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Kanina, pagkatapos ng siyam na araw na puno siya ng agam-agam, ay nakatanggap rin sa wakas si Palomar ng sagot mula sa Cebu Pacific, na may kalakip na litrato ng nawaglit niyang bagahe.

Sabi sa kanilang email: “We found one tagoff baggage in Manila possible belongs to you (sic). Please refer to photo below for your reference.”

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“Please inform us if confirm this bag belongs to you and we would inform Manila send to Hong Kong.”

Walang paumanhin na kalakip ang mensahe, at lalong walang alok na bayaran siya sa aberyang idinulot ng pagkawala ng kanyang bagahe, hindi katulad sa ibang kumpanya na agad na humihingi ng dispensa sa ganitong mga sitwasyon.

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Napag-isip tuloy si Palomar na manghingi ng danyos sa airline lalo na nang may mabasa siya na kapag lumampas sa 24 oras na di naibabalik ang bagahe ay dapat siyang bayaran.

Pero sa ngayon, ang mahalaga sa kanya ay maibabalik na ang kanyang nawaglit na maleta.

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Filipina fired on spot mulls filing discrimination suit vs employer

By The SUN

 

Jhen (in red) spent two days outside Queen Mary Hospital last year, along with fellow Pinay patient

On Feb. 14 last year, Jhen tested positive for Covid-19 and her employers immediately told her to leave their house in Mid-Levels. It was the height of the fifth and deadliest wave of the pandemic in Hong Kong, and her employers were scared she could infect them and their two young children.

Jhen was given $100 and told to go to Queen Mary Hospital in Pokfulam. But after confirmatory tests at the hospital showed she had Covid-19, Jhen and another infected Filipina were asked to leave, with staff there saying they could not be admitted without a referral. 

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Not knowing where to go, the two camped outside the hospital for two days in the dead of winter, and managed to survive only on food donations from strangers who dropped them off before scampering away.\

Fast forward to yesterday, when Jhen was told by the same employers she had returned to after spending more than a month in isolation between February and March last year, to pack her things and go.

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No money was paid to her, and the employers said they would settle all their monetary obligations through their recruitment agency.

Now Jhen is wondering whether she could still pursue a claim for her employer’s failure to pay her any salary for the time she spent in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19.

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She also recalled getting a deduction in her salary for the two days that she had a fever and was unable to work, about three months into her employment.

Most importantly, she wants to find out if she could still pursue a claim for disability discrimination against her employers for driving her away after learning that she had come down with the coronavirus.

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Jhen said she was forced to return to her employers then as she had just moved in with them, and she badly needed money to send to her family back in the Philippines. Nobody also advised her on her options, as the rapidly spreading virus was wreaking havoc across the city.

She said she wants these matters resolved before going to her employment agency to settle her claims against her employer.

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While she was taken aback by her employer’s decision to fire her on the spot after returning from her day-off, Jhen said it was not exactly smooth sailing between them for the past several weeks. 

Her female employer had been complaining recently about missing “small things” around the house, and had hinted that Jhen and a second Filipina helper in their employ were behind the losses.

As a result, the two helpers were told to present their bags for inspection each time they left the house for their days off.

Stung, Jhen once told her employer that “pumunta po kami dito sa Hong Kong para magtrabaho at hindi magnakaw” (we came to Hong Kong to work and not steal), an answer that did not sit well with their bosses. 

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“Ang sabi, mahilig daw kaming makipagtalo, pero sabi ko naman sinasagot lang namin ang pambibintang niya,” said Jhen. (They said we like to argue but I said replied that we were just responding to their accusations).

After some of the supposed missing items surfaced the employer would just keep quiet and not acknowledge that she had done them wrong by falsely accusing them of taking things from the house.

There were other irritants, said Jhen, like the cramped space where she and her companion had to sleep at night. She said she took photos of their room, but her male employer ordered her to delete them when she found them in her mobile phone.

The employer also found her diaries, and had accused her of setting them up for a claim.

While she did not consider this initially, Jhen now does plan to claim what is due her under the law. Being wronged twice is making her feel she now has to take action to get the relief that she deserves.

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HK resumes mass border crossing with mainland, Macau

By The SUN

 

Thousands of people were already at Lok Ma Chau border before the gates opened on Sunday
(Photo from China Daily)

Travel between Hong Kong and the mainland – and Macau - returned to near-normal starting Sunday, Jan. 8, with the drastic easing of anti-pandemic restrictions on either side of the border.

Immigration figures showed about 45,000 people had crossed between Hong Kong and the mainland by 8pm on Sunday, when quarantine-free travel was allowed for the first time in three years. About 33,000 of them were travelers from Hong Kong.

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Up to 50,000 slots were opened for people who made prior bookings to use any of the four land border crossings, while a further 10,000 were expected to enter via air or sea.

Residents on either side need not book their places if they were returning home, which theoretically would have doubled the quota initially set for the border crossings.

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All that was required for travelers to the mainland from Hong Kong was a negative PCR test result taken within 48 hours of departure from the city. Coming in, a negative antigen test result would suffice.

There was no corresponding statistic on the number of people who entered Macau from Hong Kong on the day travelers from the city were no longer required to present a negative result for a Covid-19 test. 

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As with those coming from the mainland, people entering Hong Kong from Macau still need to present a negative result for a rapid test.

Limited ferry service was resumed between the two places for the first time in three years, while the Golden Bus fleet that take passengers from Hong Kong to Macau and Zhuhai started its 24-hour operation again.

CE Lee in inspection tour at Lok Ma Chau

Chief Executive John Lee led a group of officials in observing the initial flow of passengers at the border crossings and afterwards said the process had been smooth, and that there was no need to increase the 50,000 quota just yet.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the Lok Ma Chau check point, CE Lee said the quota was not fully booked yet over the Lunar New Year.

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"As of today, the quota isn't fully booked. Even for Lunar New Year's Eve, there's still about a thousand left on the quota," Lee said.

But he said he will continue to monitor the situation and liaise with Guangzhou and Shenzhen authorities to see when the quota can be reviewed, adding he hoped travel can eventually resume without any restrictions.

A Hong Kong traveler gets emotional welcome at Futian port in Shenzhen (China Daily) 

Many of those who crossed the border under the newly relaxed rules were Hong Kong residents anxious to visit family members in the mainland whom they hadn’t seen since the pandemic broke out in early 2020. 

They had hesitated to visit previously because of the strict testing, quarantine and isolation measures that the mainland had adopted in pursuit of its zero-infection policy.

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Filipina fails to have her illegal work conviction overturned

Filipina's case ends at the High Court

A Filipina who questioned the conclusion of a magistrate who found her guilty of working illegally, has failed to convince the High Court to overturn the verdict, for which she was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

Yolanda Palayon,  a domestic helper, had claimed that Shatin Magistrate Norton Pang erred in concluding that she was illegally working in a car wash in Pat Heung, New Territories, when she was arrested by Immigration officers on July 26, 2021.

Palayon was one of three domestic helpers who were arrested for working in the car wash and charged with breach of conditions of stay, in violation of the Immigration Ordinance. 

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One of them pleaded guilty and had her sentene reduced by a third, while the other was convicted along with Palayon after trial at the Shatin Courts.

Only Palayon appealed her conviction to the High Court, asserting that the magistrate “erred in finding that the prosecution had proved the charge beyond reasonable doubt.”

But Deputy High Court Judge Amanda Jane Woodcock, in a decision dated Dec. 29, 2022, found “no basis to interfere with the magistrate’s findings”.  

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Judge Woodcock summarized the key points that led to the magistrate’s decision: “There was no dispute by the defence that the appellant stood next to a vehicle with a blue towel in her hand.  Where she was found was in a car wash where people pay to have their cars washed and she was observed washing a car.  One of the owners or proprietors was present at the material time.  There was no evidence that she was cleaning the car as a favour or out of friendship.  In any event, the defence evidence was that she was there to prepare food for a party which would not include wiping a car.”

She also cited the testimony of the Immigration officer who arrested Palayon, that she and her co-defendants took their handbags from a cabinet inside the car wash, when the officers asked for their identity cards.

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She added that Magistrate Pang was correct in disregarding as self-serving the testimoney of the lone defense witness, the owner of the car wash, who asserted that the three domestic helpers were in his shop to help prepare food for a party to be held there that evening and not to wash cars.

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“I am satisfied the magistrate fairly and properly considered the issues.  He rejected the evidence of the defence witness with good reason,” Judge Woodcock said.

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High Court moves to stop Filipina torture claimant from 'abusing' court process

High Court has imposed restrictions on Filipina claiming non-refoulement.

The High Court has rejected a Filipina’s request for a judicial review of the Immigration Department’s rejection of her non-refoulement claim, which seeks to protect her from forcible return to her country - and then stopped her from filing a similar suit.

In a decision issued on January 6, Deputy High Court Judge K.W. Lung imposed a Restricted Proceedings Order (RPO) against Rina Padernal, who arrived as a domestic helper in 2013 and had been overstaying since September 2014, to prevent her from initiating fresh cases and abusing Hong Kong’s justice system.

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“The (Immigration) Director’s findings show that the applicant is attempting to re-litigate the facts in support of her previous claim for a subsequent claim, which will amount to an abuse of the process,” the judge said in a decision released on Jan. 6.

“I am satisfied that, if not restrained, it is likely that the applicant would proceed with this application and other proceedings for the sole purpose of remaining in Hong Kong only,” Judge Lung said.

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Padernal’s case began when she made her non-refoulement claim on June 22, 2016, on the grounds that she faced the risk of being “killed by her husband because of domestic violence”.

What followed was a string of actions that led to the conclusion that she was abusing the process.

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After her claim was rejected by the Immigration Director on Jan. 4, 2017, she appealed to the Torture Claim Board which rejected her appeal on all applicable grounds on July 31, 2018.

She then went to the High Court to apply for leave for judicial review of that decision, but was rejected on  June 5, 2020.

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She asked the Court of Appeal to reverse the court’s order but was refused on April 1, 2021.

Undeterred, she filed a Notice of Motion for leave to appeal the same decision, but this was similarly dismissed by the Court of Appeal on December 6, 2021.

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She next asked for leave to appeal, but this was also dismissed by the Court of Appeal on July 13, 2022.

Her next step was to write to the Immigration Director on Jul 20, 2022, claiming non-refoulement protection on the ground that she was told recently that her husband was still looking for her and their adult son with the intention of harming them. This was similarly refused.

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Finally, she went back to the Court of First Instance for this case and Judge Lung summoned her to court to show cause why an RPO should not be issued against her.

In his decision, the judge said: "Upon being requested to show cause why the Court should not make the RPO against her, the applicant said she had nothing to say."

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Among others, the RPO prohibits Padernal from commencing any fresh proceedings, or continuing any existing legal proceedings relating to her non-refoulement claims, without leave from the Court of First Instance.

All applications for leave shall be made to Judge Lung or, in his absence, such other judge designated to hear Constitutional and Administrative Law cases. No more than one application will be allowed every three months.

The RPO will be valid for five years.

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