2 Pinays jailed for illegally selling Red Horse in Central

Red Horse (A screengrab from Youtube)

A judge in Sai Wan Ho sent two former domestic workers to jail for illegally selling Red Horse beer to an undercover policeman in a bar in Central.

Eastern Magistrates Courts Magistrate Cheng Lim-chi on March 1 sentenced J.P. Placides and A.L. Buquing to 22 months and 15 days in prison for illegally taking employment and selling liquor without a license at the Triple J Bar.

The two worked in Hong Kong as domestic workers but are now seeking asylum, claiming that they would be tortured if they returned to the Philippines. As torture claimants, they are not allowed to take employment.

“(Placides) told (the undercover policeman) how much two bottles of Red Horse cost. That is consistent with working as a waitress in a bar,” Judge Cheng said in his verdict.

On the other hand, Buquing, who was near the cashier, received the policeman’s payment of $100 from Placides and later gave her $60 for his change.

The two Filipinas had claimed that they were not working at Triple J, which has no license to sell alcohol, and was only there to help the owner, who had a bum stomach at the time. They said they frequented the bar because the owner gave them free food.

However, Judge Cheng noted that Placides admitted that she served the undercover policeman a bucket of Red Horse beer.

“She asked (the policeman) if he wanted a song to sing. She said the price of Red Horse and passed (the policeman’s payment) to (Buquing), who was inside the cashier area,” the judge noted.

Minutes after the policeman received his change from Placides, the raiding team arrived and recovered the marked money in the cash register.

Besides sending the two Filipinas to jail, the magistrate also ordered the confiscation of 517 bottles of alcohol, the cash register with $530 in cash, and 50 chairs that were found inside the bar.