Employers of Pinay maid who jumped to death in China arrested in HK


Hong Kong police have arrested the employers of Lorain Asuncion, the Filipina domestic helper who supposedly jumped to her death in Shenzhen, China, last July, according to a report on Asia Times.
The two, identified only through their surnames Gu and Liu, were arrested over charges of conspiracy to defraud, as they reportedly hired Asuncion to work for them in Hong Kong but took the Filipino to work in Liu's father's home in Shenzhen about five times.
Liu's father took Asuncion back to Shenzhen with him on July 22 without the two, the report said. The Filipina supposedly jumped from the seventh floor of a building two days later.
Police suspect that the couple gave false testimonies to the immigration department as they insisted that Asuncion would only work in Hong Kong.
While the two were able to post bail, they may face up to 14 years in jail and a fine of HK$150,000 or US$17,200 if they are proven to have made a false statement to the Immigration Department.
The barest of details were given to Asuncion's family by her employment agency in Hong Kong on the same day.
Asuncion's parents flew to Hong Kong earlier this month to find learn more about her death and shared that the domestic helper told them of her fears every time she was sent to the mainland.
“She was afraid because of the language and when she was in [mainland] China she did not have access to social networks, so she could not talk to us,” Susan Escorial, Asuncion's aunt, told the South China Morning Post.
Asuncion's death sparked debate about employers taking their helpers to the mainland or maids being hired in Hong Kong to work full-time for families in the mainland even when such practices are illegal.
Danilo Baldon, an official at the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong, said they received four reports in the past month of domestic helpers taken to work in mainland China for an extended period of time.
Baldon admitted that it was difficult to determine the extent of the crime as domestic helpers were reluctant to come forward out of fear of having their contracts terminated.
There are allegedly at least 5,000 Filipinos illegally working as household service workers in China. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News

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