Pinoy beaten with baseball bats in Taiwan denies out-of-court settlement

Published May 22, 2013 11:00am

The Filipino who was beaten up with baseball bats by a Taiwanese gang in a dormitory in Taichung on Saturday denied that he settled the case out of court. “Hindi po areglo ang usapan po doon. Wala pong suhol o anuman diyan na involved. Inayos lang natin 'yan sa pamamagitan ng kapayapaan, respeto,” Joey De Leon said on GMA Network's "24 Oras" newscast on Tuesday.

A photo sent by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) showed De Leon in the prosecutor's office shaking the hands of the five Taiwanese youths who attacked him. De Leon was one of the Filipinos who were reportedly harassed by some Taiwanese who were angry over the May 9 shooting by Philippine coast guards of 65-year-old Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng in disputed waters.

According to TECO, the Taiwanese police invited the five for investigation but De Leon and the youths allegedly agreed on a settlement of 120,000 HKD (roughly Php 636,000).

However, De Leon who suffered a broken left leg and a bruised back due to the assault denied this. The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) has filed a formal complaint to the council of labor affairs in Taiwan on Tuesday for the beating of De Leon. Taiwanese report

Meanwhile, TECO sent a copy of the report of the Taiwanese ministry of justice about Hung's shooting by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in the Balintang channel in Batanes in extreme northern Luzon.

The report said that Hung sustained high velocity wounds possibly from M14 rifles or M16 machine guns based on the slugs found in the fishing vessel GDX 28.

GDX 28 also had no marks indicating it rammed the PCG's ship, the report added.

“No evidence of ramming was found on the exterior of GDX 28, which rules out the possiblity that the boat had rammed the Philippine government vessel before the shooting and had prompted the Philippine law enforcement personnel to shoot in self-defense,” the report read.

The report also revealed that the GDX 28 was riddled with at least 45 bullets.

“The bullet holes were found to be concentrated on the rear left side of GDX 28, near the lower part of the bridge where the four crew members had sought refuge.”

According to a report of the Agence-France Presse, Taiwan on Tuesday released a satellite record of the route of a fishing boat fired on by Philippine coastguards, flatly rejecting Manila's allegations that the boat intruded into Philippine waters.

The killing of crew member Hung Shih-cheng, 65, sparked outrage in Taiwan, which has announced a series of economic sanctions against the Philippines.

Taiwan's Fisheries Agency said the voyage data recorder from the fishing boat showed it was not in Philippine waters when it came under fire on May 9.

"The satellite records indicated that the Guang Ta Hsin 28 had been fishing within Taiwan's exclusive economic zone throughout," the agency's deputy chief Tsay Tzu-yaw told AFP.

The satellite record showed that the ship was positioned at 122 degrees and 55 minutes east and 19 degrees and 59 minutes north when it was attacked at 10:12 am. The economic zones claimed by each country overlap.

Hotline numbers for assault victims The Taiwan council of labor affairs has opened a round the clock, toll-free hotline 1955 where OFWs could report instances of harassment and assault.

The MECO, on the other hand, said it can be contacted at:

Taipei: 02-25079803/ 02-25079804/ 02-25081719/ 0927-154981/ 0910-104009/ 0922-060496
0932-218057

Taichung: 04-23029089/ 04-23029080/ 0958-175359/ 0932-657661

Kaohsiung: 07-3982475/ 07-3985935/ 07-3985936/ 0911-868768

The other numbers include:
Police: 110
Emergency: 119
CLA: 1955

Email: claquino@meco.org.tw/ steulogio@meco.org.tw/ tolitzen@hotmail.com/ marioimolina@yahoo.com/ labattrdc59@yahoo.com - with reports from Agence-France Presse/Andrei Medina/VVP, GMA News

Tags: taiwan, pinoysintaiwan, meco