DOJ OKs kidnap, abuse raps vs Tanenglian, family

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has approved the indictment of Mariano Tanenglian, his wife and two children for allegedly detaining and abusing a 19-year-old housemaid rescued by authorities from their house in Quezon City in August last year.

In a 17-page resolution approved by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno, fiscals from the department’s Task Force on Women and Children Protection said they found probable cause to file charges of kidnapping illegal detention, human trafficking and eight counts of child abuse against Tanenglian, wife Aleta and children Maximilian and Fayette.

The DOJ said there are ample pieces of evidence presented against the Tanenglian family during preliminary investigation, supporting Sollano’s claim that she was locked up, not allowed to communicate with relatives, and was kicked, slapped and suffered various physical abuses even for minor mistakes since she started working for them in 2004, when she was only 13 years old.

As for the trafficking charges, the task force said a contract signed by Tanenglian for the employment of Sollano showed that the complainant was employed as a housemaid “with intention to extract forced labor or involuntary servitude from her for five years without salary and under constant condition of harm and threat.”

The DOJ task force said witness accounts, Sollano’s rescue, and “the fact that they were compelled to sign the documents presented to them by respondents’ lawyer as a condition before complainant could be released, and the fact that they received… P137,000 from the respondents bolster the findings that probable cause exists.”