Recruiter, actress’ aide charged in maid maltreatment case

The recruiter of the 17-year-old housemaid and the girl Friday of former actress Princess Revilla were charged with physical injury, child labor and child abuse yesterday before the Pasig City prosecutor’s office.

Volunteer lawyers Yvonne Gaddi Festejo and Irene Alogoc said recruiter Ruth Bajas and Revilla’s assistant, Ethel Avenido face the same charges earlier filed against Revilla.

Revilla (Rebecca Bautista-Ocampo in real life) failed to appear before the Pasig court yesterday. Her lawyer asked the court for a five-day extension to file her counter-affidavit on the case.

This developed as lawyer Cirilo Avila, representing the victim’s mother, asked the court to transfer custody of the housemaid from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to the victim’s parents.

Avila said they are also asking the court to disallow the DSWD and the housemaid’s volunteer lawyers from representing her because they are not authorized.

The housemaid’s lawyers earlier questioned the sudden appearance of the victim’s mother, who flew in from Samar, apparently to try to convince her daughter to withdraw the charges against Revilla.

Alogoc strongly believes influential people are pressuring the lawyers and DSWD officials protecting the victim.

“This battle is against a prominent family, which makes it difficult for the victim and us. We need all the support we can get. We hope that this case will not have the same fate as the previous cases filed against Revilla, where the maids did not appear on the scheduled hearings for unknown reasons,” Alogoc said.

She also clarified that during a preliminary investigation hearing before the office of prosecutor Dennis Pastrana last July 14, the mother grabbed the victim by the neck, shouting at her to withdraw the case against Revilla and just go home to Samar.

The victim, however, shouted back that she will pursue the case and that she refuses to go home until the case is finished.

The housemaid’s mother and cousin claimed they were treated like criminals during the hearing, but Alogoc said the two women started the commotion when they tried to wrest the victim away from the social workers.

Alogoc said someone must be instructing the two women to cause disturbances during the hearing and make the DSWD workers appear to be the aggressors.    – Non Alquitran