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Filipina, partner jailed for overstaying in Hong Kong

HONG KONG: A Filipina has been jailed for one year for overstaying in Hong Kong for two decades.

Her Filipino partner was also awarded a similar but suspended sentence for aiding and abetting the breach, and for failing to register their two daughters, Rappler reported.

Ma. Lorena Escanillas, 43, who formerly worked as domestic help, has been in jail since her arrest along with 58-year-old Reynaldo Pangan, also a helper, on April 27 in Aberdeen, the report said.

Eastern Court Magistrate Clement Lee reportedly suspended Pangan’s sentence for two years so he could look after the girls, aged 18 and 19.

The judge reduced their sentences by one-third because Escanillas and Pangan pleaded guilty to the charges. He also imposed a two-month jail term on Pangan for each of the two charges of failing to register a child, the report said.

The couple and their daughters were reportedly arrested when police armed with a search warrant raided a flat on Ap Lei Main Street for a suspected crime, according to the news report.

Finding no suspicious items, they checked the identities of the 4 and found that only Pangan had a valid Hong Kong ID card. Escanillas had an ID issued on October 26, 1994, but her visa had expired on October 22, 1996, said the news portal.

The daughters could not show any identity cards, just a patient card and a delivery record issued by the Prince of Wales Hospital indicating a baby girl was born on March 4, 1997. The parents and daughters were arrested, according to Rappler.

During investigation, the girls reportedly identified Escanillas and Pangan as their parents, with the elder daughter saying that she was told by the couple that she was born in a Hong Kong hospital on March 3, 1997. The younger said she heard she was born in a house in Taipo on February 25, 1998.

They also never traveled because they had no passports.

The sisters were referred to the Social Welfare Department and issued temporary identity documents by the Immigration Department on April 30, the report said.

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