A Filipino driver in Hong Kong was sent to jail for 10 months after he was found guilty of dangerous driving that led to the death of a Chinese construction worker.

Judge Amanda Woodcock on February 24 ordered the prison terms for Ariel A. Beltran after he pleaded guilty in a traffic accident that resulted in the death of F.T Lee, 43.

In addition to the jail sentence, Judge Woodcock was also barred from driving in Hong Kong for two years.

“It is absolutely tragic that (Lee) died because of his injuries. The defendant will have to live with that for the rest of his life. He failed to keep a proper lookout,” the judge said.

The incident reportedly happened at 5pm on the 4th of May 2015 while Beltran was driving his employer’s children from school.

The Filipino said he shifted to the middle of the road, and looked straight because there was a bend up ahead. He said he did not see the victim suddenly cross the street.

The prosecutor said there was no traffic congestion at the time and the weather was fine during the incident.

The victim was brought to hospital but died apparently due to head injuries. Beltran was tested negative for alcohol.

A domestic helper reportedly saved her elderly employer from becoming a victim of a scam and losing HK$150,000 (P906,709).

The employer, surnamed Chiu, 77, received a call from an apparent kidnapper saying he had abducted her grandson and demanded the money in exchange for the young man’s release.

If she did not pay up, the caller threatened, he would hurt the young man, Apple Daily reported. The woman, fearing the fate of her grandson, promptly prepared the money and planned to take the bag of cash to pay the ransom money at the agreed location in Kowloon City’s Junction Road.

At around 1pm, the meeting took place. But as the scammer appeared to take the ransom money, the maid, who has followed the footsteps of her employer, rushed to confront the man and yelled at him, forcing the swindler to run away.

Chiu later realized that it was a scam when called up her grandson and relieved that he was safe and sound.

The man was described to be wearing sunglasses, a black shirt and blue jeans and sports a short, brown hair, the two women reported to police.

Two Filipina housemaids in Kuwait were accused of spilling hot water on a two-year-old child as they escaped from the house of their employer.

Citing reports from Al-Rai daily, Arab Times said the Kuwaiti sponsor has filed complaint at Adan Police Station accusing the two Filipinas of harming his daughter. The child sustained second-degree burns from the scalding in a medical report he submitted.

Police are looking for the Filipina absconders.

Twenty-four Filipino workers from Libya has been repatriated by the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli on March 6, a statement yesterday from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

The efforts are in connection with the government’s mandatory repatriation program in response to the still “precarious peace and order situation” in Libya.

The government repeated its appeals to Filipinos still in Libya — an estimated 2,940 of them — to avail of the mandatory repatriation program.

An Indonesian helper in Hong Kong who was fired after she was found to be pregnant is now suing her former employers for breach of contract.

According to court records cited by news website hk01.com, Waliyah, 30, also accused the couple, Terence Yip Hoi-sun and former wife, Chan Man-hong of sex discrimination and seeks compensation from the two.

The couple took Waliyah’s urine sample in 2013 for tests after they suspected her of being pregnant. When results yielded positive, they fired her from the job.

According to the Indonesian woman’s lawyer, she was forced to vacate the couple’s Kwun Tong flat one week before her one-month notice was up, a violation of her employer contract.

Waliyah gave birth three months later and put the baby up for adoption and she found a new employer afterwards.

The judge adjourned the case to May 9.

A Filipino working as a contractor for Qatar Rail has reportedly died at a Doha Metro construction site, the company has confirmed.

Juanito Pardillo, a heavy equipment mechanic and fire suppression/lube technician was killed on February 28. His employer, Qatar Rail, declinded to provide additional details about the incident, saying in a statement that it will not comment further until a full investigation currently underway is completed.

Qatar Rail’s statement:

“Our thoughts and sympathies are with his family at this most difficult of times.

Qatar Rail and its contractors operate to the highest standard of health and safety on our sites and measures its safety performance against other major projects across the world. Any incident is one too many, but overall our safety record is a good one.”

Pardillo appeared to be working on the Red Line South, which runs from Al Wakrah in the south to Msheireb station, according to a report by Doha News. The project reportedly employed some 18,500 workers in 2015.

Senatorial candidate Susan Ople, popularly known for her advocacy for the welfare of overseas Filipino workers is aiming to establish a separate department dedicated on migration and development of Filipinos overseas so their concerns are properly cared for, once she is elected.

In a discussion with Manila Bulletin editors, Ople said she will also ask to look into sub-committee on OFW affairs tasked with reviewing the Philippines’ overseas labor program.

“It has been 41 years since my father’s (the late former Sen. Blas Ople) tenure as labor secretary, and several gaps have been [bringing about banes] for several decades now,” she said.

“We have had several cases, referred to our foundation which is the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, where the family of the concerned OFW would have to go from one agency to another, which takes a lot of time, effort, and money,” she said, adding that at least 1.6 million OFWs including those returning abroad have left the country in 2014.

She used Indonesia as an example, cited for its roadmap to cut the number of domestic helpers deployed by 2017. In comparison, the Philippines just deploys domestic helpers without clear targets for the future.

She suggested that should the government aim to reverse the migration trend in five years, investments need to be put in areas where most people leave to find jobs abroad.

“Number one in the list would be Mindanao, for most domestic workers come from Muslim areas,” she said. “Then we also have to include [people from] typhoon-stricken areas like Tacloban (in Leyte) and Samar.”

Ople also called on the improvement of consular services abroad to hasten the reaction time to assist distressed Filipino workers. For instance, she said that in Jeddah, only one consular staff caters to a thousand distressed OFWs. In Riyadh, the ratio between embassy staff and underserved Filipino workers is even bigger.

Salary differential, she said, is also one major factor that drives Filipinos to desire jobs far from their families.

“The salary differential is a major push factor. For example, our local domestic workers typically earn around P4,000 a month. [But] if they’re going to take their skills in Saudi Arabia, they can get $400 (or almost P19,000),” Ople said. “Just a few hours away, Hong Kong, R26,000, minimum wage.”

As long as well-paying jobs are available overseas, homegrown skilled Filipinos will keep on leaving for those jobs, she said. But in the same light she also saw concerns over faked birth dates on passports so underage travelers can pass off as eligible.

“They can still manage to get passports and depart, and we recently rescued someone from Mindanao…he is only 16 years old, but his passport says he’s 23,” Ople said. “And this was deployed by a licensed agency.”

A joint cooperation between Kuwait government and the Philippine embassy in Kuwait has made the repatriation of 19 undocumented Filipino children back to the Philippines possible.

On board Kuwait Airways, most of the repatriated children were born out of wedlock while others were rendered undocumented after the residence visas of their parents have expired. Still others were left behind by their mothers who were repatriated earlier to the Philippines, a report from Arab Times said.

Philippine ambassador to Kuwait Renato Pedro Villa in a statement expressed gratitude to the government of Kuwait for its efforts.

“The repatriation of undocumented kids continues and once again, we would like to thank the Ministry of Interior, the Kuwait Immigration Department for helping the embassy in repatriating the kids so they can finally start their life in the Philippines, have a good education and have a conducive environment,” he said.

The 19 minors, along with their guardians, headed directly to the airport and did not have to pass the deportation center. At the airport, the Assistance to Nationals Unit of the Philippine embassy led by Philippine Social Welfare Attache Nilda Oliva and Case Officer Salahodin Tomas Magayan accompanied them. Kuwait Immigration officials also assisted them at the airport check-in counter.

“We urge all Filipino nationals who have undocumented kids to come forward and visit us at the embassy. Don’t be afraid. We will try all our best to assist you with the help of the Kuwait government. Think of the future of your kids,” appealed Oliva.

Those who wish to bring their children home may enlist at the embassy’s shelter house in Hateen for the processing of travel documents and clearance.

Philippine Embassy Shelter
Block 2, Street 217, Villa 42

They may also call the embassy repatriation hotline +96598005115 for all the requirements.

A Singaporean woman who was acquitted by a district judge of slapping the Filipino maid of her sister nearly four years ago will face a retrial after the High Court overturned the verdict.

The prosecution had appealed against the acquittal of Kathleen Chua Siew Wei, 42, arguing that the district judge made a number of interventions that prevented Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang from properly cross-examining her during a trial. It added that the judge’s findings were against the weight of the evidence lodged against the defendant.

The judge, not named in the appeal, had told Yang to focus only on what was relevant to the charge of causing hurt to Jonna Memeje Muegue. He reportedly disallowed Yang from questioning Chua on, among other things, her past experience in hiring maids, the frequency with which she scolded the maid, and an allegation that the maid was not paid her salary for the first seven months because it was set off against a loan Chua had given her.

Judicial Commissioner See Kee Oon said, in allowing the appeal, that allegations of judicial interference rarely succeed but he had to “reluctantly” conclude this was such a case. He found the trial judge unduly isolate the case by considering only the testimony directly related to the slapping incident.

“In so doing, he had not only unfairly restricted the ambit of the prosecution’s cross-examination and impeded their ability to present their case fully, but had also impaired his own ability to evaluate and weigh the case presented by each side,” he said.

Commissioner See added that a retrial before another judge would be appropriate.

Chua, her elder sister, Chua Siew Peng, 44, and their mother, Lum Wai Lui, 75, have faced separate trials for abusing Muege, who later escaped from their Maplewoods condominium in Bukit Timah by jumping out from a window in 2012.

Ms Muegue’s employer, the elder Chua, is awaiting sentencing for wrongfully confining and slapping her. The sisters’ mother was put on 21 months’ probation in February.

A Filipina domestic helper who has successfully recruited fellow Filipina maids into investing into the Emgoldex scam is believed to be planning to go to Canada, according to a number of investors as reported by Hong Kong News.

The woman, identified as MJ denied claims she was leaving Hong Kong as she promised to settle in the next few months money she owed.

“Ano ba ang ikinakatakot nila? Sa first week of June, mababayaran ko na ang obligasyon ko sa kanila,” said MJ, who was identified as as the recruitment leader for the fraudulent investment scheme of Emgoldex and its affiliate entities Global Intergold, and Prosperous Infinite Philippines Holdings Corp.

In a telephone interview, MJ also claims to have made a written pledge at the Consulate that she will return the P255,000 for the seven accounts which were not encoded, referring to investments that were presumed to be in her possession.

Vice Consul Alex Vallespin of the Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Hong Kong said the Filipino women who lodged a complain against MJ have asked him if they could bar the woman from leaving Hong Kong to which he said the PCG can only forward their complaint to the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrants Workers Affairs (OUMWA), and a court case, if warranted, could be filed against those who duped them into investing in the bogus scheme.

MJ said the rumors that she was leaving for Canada is misleading because it was her Canada-based girlfriend who is coming to Hong Kong soon.

“Matagal pa iyang sa Canada, plano pa lang iyan at saka depende pa iyan sa girlfriend ko,” MJ said, adding that her family has decided to sell a farm lot in Occidental Mindoro to settle the investment money she owed from investors.

The complainants have alleged that MJ was able to buy a car and a water refilling station business in the Philippines allegedly from her Emgoldex earnings. They also claimed she used to brag that she received a P2 million bonus because she had 13 accounts in Emgoldex. MJ remained mum to such claims which were disclosed in tri-party meeting at the PCG on Feb. 21.

The Securities and Exchange Commission had issued an advisory against investing in Emgoldex as early as February 20, 2015.

Emgoldex leaders earlier claimed that investing P1,000 in the “Pinoy Style Patak Patak” could earn the invetors P5,000 to P10,000. A placement of P35,000 will have an interest of between P180,000 and P360,000.

A human rights organization research has suggested that one out of every six household service workers is a victim of forced labor and a significant percentage of whom have been trafficked.

Justice Centre Hong Kong called on stronger enforcement of laws that protect the city’s maids as its research found out that more than 80 per cent of the territory’s 336,600 domestic workers are exploited, with some working up to 20 hours a day.

One-third of Hong Kong households with children employs at least one domestic helper, majority of whom are from the Philippines and Indonesia.

“Hong Kong must come clean; the government can no longer afford to simply sweep these problems under the carpet,” the centre said in a report.

Maid abuse in the city has earned a spot in international headlines last year when a Hong Kong woman was sentenced to six years in jail for repeatedly abusing her maids. In 2013, another Hong Kong couple was jailed for torturing their maid, who said they once dressed her in a nappy and tied her to a chair while they went on holiday.

The study, which surveyed more than 1,000 domestic workers from eight countries, found helpers in Hong Kong work an average of over 70 hours a week, yet only a fraction of them reported receiving above the minimum monthly wage, now mandated at HK$4,210 (P25,397).

Questions in the research also covered recruitment, wages, work conditions and employer treatment.

Results paint a dire picture of the helpers situation. For instance, a third of all domestic helpers surveyed were not given a full day off as required by law, over half reported receiving less than the minimum food allowance and nearly a third did not feel free to quit their jobs.

The center called on tougher action on unscrupulous employment agencies that overcharge helpers, often leaving them buried in debt. Also, the center recommends to scrap the rule that requires all migrant workers to leave Hong Kong within two weeks after their contract ended.

Filipino workers abroad may eventually become among the losers if the Philippine government fails to resolve the $81-million money laundering issue, an advocate to rights of migrant workers told senators Tuesday.

Susan Ople spoke of the possible scenario during a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigation on the alleged money laundering which have been reportedly stolen from the account of the Bangladesh Bank in the US Federal Bank of New York and allegedly transmitted to a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) in Makati where the amount ended up in five separate accounts.

“Being blacklisted by FATF will mean higher cost of remittance for OFWs,” said Ople, referring to the policy making body dedicated to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

“We at the Ople Center see a trend where OFWs would be forced to send money through big foreign banks that charge more and generally, offer inferior foreign exchange rates,” she said.

Ople said in her position paper submitted to the Committee that even without this issue, some foreign banks have already been earning more from dollar remittances Filipinos abroad send to local banks and remittance centers.

“We at the Ople Center see a trend where OFWs would be forced to send money through big foreign banks that charge more and generally, offer inferior foreign exchange rates,” she said.

Ople noted that at present, 14 countries and territories —among them USA, Hong Kong and Singapore — have already ordered the closure of bank accounts used by Philippine companies to handle OFW remittances.

A Filipina in Hong Kong has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to the charge of trafficking dangerous drugs.

In a report by Hong Kong News, Florence de Pedro, 40, a former saleslady, has had two prior convictions for breach of condition of stay and whose only means of livelihood was helping a drug dealer manufacture and distribute illegal substance.

De Pedro first arrived in 1993, and in the following year, she married a local Chinese man, with whom she had one child. For some reason, de Pedro was only able to secure a dependant visa and was unable to become a Hong Kong permanent resident. After her marriage ended in 1999, she was employed as a saleslady at a shop in World-Wide House in Central, Hong Kong and was paid HK$5,500 salary until 2002.

By 2001, she entered into a relationship with a Pakistani man who is a Hong Kong permanent resident and eventually had five children with him. In 2013, the Pakistani man was remanded in jail custody for drug trafficking and served two-and-half years in jail. During that time de Pedro’s stay in Hong Kong was in recognizance and was barred from engaging in any paid work by the Immigration Department. Without the ability to support her children, authorities have also put them under government’s care.

De Pedro was then introduced to a certain Cynthia C. or Azo who provided the woman with a room to stay, along with free food and utilities. Azo was reportedly involved in manufacturing drugs, and de Pedro would be paid HK$500 a day to deliver the illegal substance.

In 2015, while de Pedro was leaving the room, she was intercepted by operatives armed with search warrant found 498 grams of a mixture of cocaine, heroin and ketamine placed in 40 plastic bags and some on an electronic scale, metal sleeve and chopsticks. Also found in the flat were packaging paraphernalia, a booklet containing the suspected dangerous drugs record, and a video recording of De Pedro’s communication with “Azo”.

Presented before the court on March 4, de Pedro’s lawyer sought leniency from Deputy high Court Judge S. D’Almada Remedios, saying the Filipina did not realize the gravity of the offense she committed.

The judge, however, said that looking at the photos of the room when it was searched by cops “there’s a hell lot of drugs [in there].”

“When her Pakistani boyfriend was remanded in jail, the government took her children because [authorities] knew she had no way to support herself. She stupidly, foolishly chose this way to maintain her living. She is no drug addict, and she only used ice when her boyfriend gave it to her,” De Pedro’s lawyer argued.

The defendant also expressed her remorse over her involvement in the illegal drugs trade.

While judge D’Almada Remedios acknowledged the “difficult situation” that de Pedro was in, she also said the defendant should have realized the gravity of her offense as her Pakistani boyfriend was in jail for the same crime.

Given the amount of illegal drugs recovered in her possession, the judge sentenced de Pedro 16 years and six months in prison. This, however, was discounted to 11 years after she pleaded guilty to the charge.

A 39-year-old Filipina domestic helper has been rescued from “constant abuse” by her female employer and is now staying in a charity-operated shelter in Hong Kong.

Florence, who hails from Cordillera region in the Philippines, filed a police complaint against her employer in Wan Chai, said executive director Edwina Antonio of the Bethune House.

“Biktima siya ng pananakit. Binuhusan siya ng mainit na tubig noong February 24. Noong January 17, pinaso siya ng mainit na stainless na container at hanggang ngayon may marka pa yung eight centimeter by five centimeter wound,” Antonio said as quoted by Hong Kong News.

Florence arrived in Hong Kong to work as household service worker in January 2015 and stayed with her employer until July of that year. She complained that her employer, said to be in her 30s, regularly pinched her ears and kicked her.

She has since worked for a second employer beginning December 2015.

“OK naman si Florence ngayon, pero siyempre hindi siya pwedeng magtrabaho habang iniimbestigahan ang kaso niya kaya ngayon nasa shelter siya,” Antonio said.

The woman’s passport was reportedly seized by her employment agency, AmahSearch Employment Agency, and was released when she paid the 10 per cent agency fee.

A Filipino tourist accused of being part of a pickpocket syndicate who stole more than HK$100,000 (P602,668) from their victims in Hong Kong, was arrested at Hong Kong International Airport.

Josephine V., believed to be in her late 40s or early 50s, was brought before the Eastern Magistrates Courts on March 7 after charges of theft was filed against her, in a report by Hong Kong News.

An accomplice, a certain R. Azarcon, is also in police custody.

“This is a syndicate offense,” the prosecutor told Eastern Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai, adding that the first incident took place at Sogo Department Store in Causeway Bay on June 23, 2015. The second incident happened on February 16 inside Wan Chai MTR station where Josephone allegedly stole HK$78,800 from a train passenger.

“The defendant was stopped as she was attempting to leave Hong Kong via the airport,” the prosecutor said, who opposed granting of bail to the Filipino suspect.

“This is a serious offense and it involves a substantial amount of money,” she said.

Judge Chainrai set the next hearing for the case on March 31 as the police were conducting further investigation.

The Hong Kong government has reiterated its stance that migrant workers employed as domestic helpers in the city must live with their employers, rejected calls to scrap the rule.

A government spokesman said “it must be stressed that the importation of live-in foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) to Hong Kong has been allowed primarily to meet the acute and long-standing shortage of full-time live-in domestic helpers in the local labor market.”

The statement comes as Justice Center Hong Kong, a human rights organization pointed out in a research that one out of six domestic helpers in the city are victims of forced labor, and a significant proportion are denied of rights such as adequate food allowance, and prescribed number of working hours.

The organization suggested that FDHs should be free to live with their employers or stay elsewhere. Those who choose to live separatelt from employers should receive appropriate housing allowance or salary commensurate with the existing cost of living.

In addition to suggesting an appropriate housing arrangements, Justice Centre also urged the government to strengthen its regulations on employment agencies, some of which overcharge domestic workers who are ultimately debt-ridden and more vulnerable to forced labor.

However, the statement from the government apparently addressed those concerns.

“Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world which grant statutory labor rights and benefits to FDHs, same as those enjoyed by local workers,” it said.

“FDHs are offered additional protection through the government-prescribed Standard Employment Contract under which they can enjoy benefits like free food, free accommodation, free medical treatment and free passages to and from their home countries,” the statement added, encouraging helpers to file report if they have been abused or suspect that they are being exploited in a variety of ways such as underpayment of wages, denial of statutory holidays, and others.

A judge in Hong Kong has ordered government prosecutors to expedite the case of an overstaying Filipino domestic helper who allegedly dumped her baby into a trash bin.

Eastern Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai on March 7 made the order in the case filed against Maribel D. Hernandez who has been incarcerated for more than two months.

A prosecutor said the police still needed to conduct toxicology and DNA tests and check further the pills found in the defendant’s bag. She added that Hernandez’s records are also being reviewed at the Immigration Department.

Hernandez was found bleeding on the morning of January 6 in a subdivided flat for domestic workers inside State Theater Building at King’s Road in North Point. She was taken to a hospital in Chai Wan where doctors discovered she had already given birth. Police tried to locate the baby at trash bins within the vicinity of the building, as well as the landfill in Tuen Mun but searches have yielded no success so far.

She was later charged with “administering drugs to procure abortion” but plea was not taken.

Authorities have discovered the presence of Cytotec Misoprostol tablets — known to induce abortion — in her handbag. According to the report from Hong Kong News, women who take drugs that induce abortion can be fined and imprisoned up to seven years.

Hernandez was reportedly married back in the Philippines, but entered into sexual relationship with a Filipino in Hong Kong. After her employment contract ended in June 2014, Hernandez was living in the said address with a friend.

A pregnancy may be legally terminated if two registered medical practitioners would attest that continuing the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, according to the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong.

Despite slowing economy amid falling oil prices in the Middle East, Filipinos based overseas in January sent hoome $2.2 billion, growing 3.2% year-on-year, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr in a statement on Tuesday, March 15.

The amount consists primarily of transfers from land-based overseas Filipino workers with contracts of one year or more, as well as seas-based and land-based workers with shorter job contracts.

Similarly, cash remittances channeled through banks amounted to $2 billion in January 2016, rising by 3.4% from the level posted a year ago. Cash remittances from both land-based ($1.6 billion) and sea-based ($447 million) workers expanded by 3% and 4.6% year-on-year, respectively.

Over 75% of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Qatar, and Japan.

The BSP indicated the remittance flows from OFWs remained resilient, underpinned by sustained demand for skilled Filipino manpower for overseas jobs.

Falling oil prices, the main source of income in a number of Middle Eastern countries that employ hundreds of thousands of Filipinos, have become source of concern. However, government data showed 30.5% of 84,670 total approved job orders in January 2016 were processed for deployment in the Middle East.

The processed job orders were intended mainly to fill in demand for service, production, and professional, technical and related workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates.

A Hong Kong based overseas Filipino worker was astonished to find out that the contents of the balikbayan box she sent to her family not only arrived much later than expected, its contents also appeared pilfered.

Ailyne Gumabon posted on Facebook how her experience unraveled. She sent her balikbayan box through Speedpost Multipack from Hongkong Post on Feb. 16. She claimed that the box contained six pairs of shoes, six pieces of shirts, a short, one bag, a cup and 32 pieces of chocolate to her family in San Miguel, Bulacan.

She anticipated that using the more expensive Speedpost option, she’ll have the box arrive at its destination in just three days, as she was told by Hongkong Post. However, after two weeks, her package still failed to arrive. When she used the tracking facility of Hongkong Post, Gumabon found out that the box had already arrived in the Philippines and was at the Bureau of Customs since Feb. 17.

Gumabon then told her husband to verify its whereabouts in Pasay City. But her husband was told the box was not in its premises and suggested it could be on another office.

A week later, the family received a text message that the balikbayan box had arrived at the post office. Feeling apprehensive about the whole delay and suspected something was amiss, Gumabon suggested to her husband to open the box right at the post office.

The family was shocked to discover that while the box appeared to weigh normally and content intact, the actual items were replaced with newspaper and mail parcel.

A Filipina with domestic helper visa has got herself in trouble after she was found to be working in an employment agency in Hong Kong.

For working in an agency owned by her employer’s sister, Arlene P. Viray was charged with breach of condition of stay after she was arrested within the agency’s premises.

“She was observed for 16 minutes while working at the agency,” a government prosecutor told the High Court during a bail hearing on March 3, according to a report by Hong Kong News.

Viray’s employer WF Cheung and her sister were also under investigation to determine whether they should also be charged.

“The Immigration Department is conducting further inquiries about the two Miss Cheungs,” the prosecutor told the court. Viray appealed to the High Court to allow her to post bail after she was remanded in jail custody on Feb. 18.

Viray arrived in Hong Kong in January 1 and her employment contract is due to end in November.

“Let me tell you. If you are convicted, it is probable you will be sentenced to three months. Unless there is an urgent trial, if I refuse you bail, you would have served a substantial part of the sentence,” High Court Justice Patrick Li told the Filipino worker, who had no lawyer.

“However, if I grant you bail, I need to know for certain that there is a place in Hong Kong when you can be located and there is a person who would make sure that you will turn up for your trial,” he added.

In the meantime, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office had already contacted Viray’s agency to ensure she gets the necessary assistance she needs.