PAO wants abused maid's employers on DOJ watchlist

MANILA, Philippines - The Public Attorney’s Office has asked Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to place under a watchlist a couple accused of maltreating a domestic helper.

Chief Public Attorney Persida Rueda Acosta said the couple might “abscond” after they failed to attend a hearing before the city prosecutor last Thursday. Another hearing has been set on Aug. 14.

On Friday, Acosta wrote to the Department of Justice and asked her to issue a watchlist order against Analiza Marzan and her husband, Reynold.

Last week, Bonita Baran, the 21-year-old former househelp, filed charges of attempted murder, kidnapping and serious illegal detention and seven counts of serious physical injuries against the Marzans with the Quezon City prosecutor’s office.

Acosta noted that the kidnapping case is punishable with life imprisonment.

Based on her complaint, Baran was recruited from her hometown in Baras, Catanduanes and started working for the couple in 2007.

Among the abuses was the punches she received that left her right eye completely blind. Baran also said Analiza burned her face with a flat iron.

Acosta said they included in the complaint the husband, since he did nothing while the abuse was happening to the helper.

According to Baran, the couple began “detaining” her by locking the house so she would not be able to go out and see other people.

She was finally sent to her home province in May – in a bus and wearing a diaper since she could no longer go to the toilet alone – when she could no longer perform duties after she went blind.