3 Live-Out Pinoys Get Suspended 4-Month Jail Sentence
By Vir B. Lumicao
Three Filipino domestic helpers were each sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for three years, after they all pleaded guilty on Oct 15 to charges of conspiring to defraud Immigration officials.
Magistrate Ho Chun-yiu meted what a defense lawyer had called a “harsh” sentence on Perlita S. Gamponia, Julie C. Carpo, and Ariel O. Laron in Shatin court.
The charges were filed after immigration agents raided their rented flat during an operation in Wanchai on July 16. During an ID check, it was found out they were living outside the addresses stated in their employment contracts.
The three had been out on bail of $3,000 each since their arrests.
Charges are also being prepared against their employers, who required the helpers to live outside their homes, it was learned in court.
After the sentencing, barrister James McGowan, who represented Laron, told his client outside the court that he believed the sentence should have been two months suspended for two years.
“Your sentence of four months suspended for three years is harsh. If you decide to appeal the sentence, you should do so within the next 14 days,” he advised Laron, who is just three months into his first two-year contract in Hong Kong.
The three Filipinos worked for different employers who required them to rent a place to stay during their period of employment. They were paid varying amounts of salary that included their rental payment.
Gamponia, the first defendant, said she received a salary of $6,110 including the rental subsidy, while Carpo was paid an extra $1,000 for her rent. Laron was receiving $8,000 that included his rent.
The three shared the rent for the flat that was raided by Immigration people on July 16.
“We were surprised because the Immigration officers came early in the morning and started asking for our IDs,” Laron told The SUN after the hearing.
He said somebody must have informed the department because just two days earlier somebody knocked on their door and told them he had to check because water was dripping from the air-conditioner.
Gamponia was accused of conspiring with her employer, a certain Stratton, of lying about her address in order to get her work contract approved in December 2011 and during the subsequent extension of her visa.
She told The SUN she would return home for good once she got back her passport from Immigration. Her work visa ended on Oct 14 but she could not apply for an extension without her passport.
Carpo, who started working for the same employer in 1998 and had her visa extended only last December, was also charged with conspiracy to defraud Immigration officials, and so was Laron, who signed his contract only in April this year.
Both said they would continue working for their bosses.