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Danny Lee

Raquel Carvalho

A terminally ill asylum seeker with days to live could die alone in Hong Kong after a long bureaucratic process of repatriation.
Christine Aquino, 39, from the Philippines, has waited for the Immigration Department to deport her since she withdrew her asylum bid on June 3.
Her doctors said on Monday she had “around one week” to live after her cervical cancer spread to other organs. A frail-looking Aquino told the Post from her hospital bed: “I just want to go home.”
Home is where the hurt is for tormented asylum seekers in Hong Kong
Father John Wotherspoon, Aquino’s guardian, said: “This is not the first time immigration has been slow to process an urgent case. There is a need for them to improve their procedures.”
After diagnosis in early 2015, Aquino served 10 months in jail for drug possession, during which her condition worsened. She got out in March, but her conviction meant she had to be deported.
This is not the first time immigration has been slow to process an urgent case. There is a need for them to improve their procedures.
Father John Wotherspoon
By Monday officials had not given permission for Aquino to return home. A deportation order was issued on Tuesday, and she is expected to leave Hong Kong on Friday. The Immigration Department said it received Aquino’s claim withdrawal on June 3.
But officers said they lost contact afterwards and “had been trying very hard to locate” her to process her deportation, and only managed to do so from June 23 after the Philippines consulate told them where she was.
A spokeswoman said the department “all along kept close contact with the local consulate to arrange Aquino’s return as soon as possible.”
She said if she was healthy enough, saying they “tentatively” planned to return her to the Philippines on July 15 with consulate staff.
The Philippines consulate said arrangements had been made for Aquino to get medical and welfare support upon landing in Manila.
On June 29, the consulate wrote to the Immigration Department. Officials “responded immediately saying that the repatriation of Ms Aquino was already being processed”, said Bernardita Catalla, the Philippines’ top diplomat in Hong Kong. She said the department “told us that she can travel any time now.
Message from Consul General of the Philippines
“It’s about getting medical clearance at the moment.”
Doctors said travelling could be fatal if Aquino’s condition deteriorated in-flight.
Her mother, Natividad Aquino, 70, who lives in Manila, doubts her daughter will be able to travel.
“I hope to see her soon ... It’s my daughter,” she said over the phone, crying in despair.
She said that her daughter left the country in 2007. They lost contact until she was approached by the consulate telling her of her daughter’s disease in March.
Human rights lawyer Mark Daly said of the asylum claim withdrawal process: “We think it is an area that can be improved and have known of cases in detention held up from return or removal for administrative reasons – which is highly inappropriate.”


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File photograph of Christine Aquino

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Deportation of woman with only days left to live held up by ‘slow’ government bureaucracy


Cancer-suffering asylum seeker in Hong Kong in race to get home

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Deportation of woman with only days left to live held up by ‘slow’ government bureaucracy

Deportation of woman with only days left to live held up by ‘slow’ government bureaucracy