A female employer was sentenced with life imprisonment by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 77 after she maltreated her helper and illegally detained her.
Employer Anna Liza Catahan and husband Reynaldo Marzan were complained by their house helper, Bonita Baran who suffered serious physical injuries from their hands. Baran also became blind after her female employer pierced her both eyes.
Anna Liza Catahan was sentenced with life imprisonment while her husband was sentenced with imprisonment of 8 years to 14 years for illegal detention of Baran.
Baran’s case became controversial after she reported that she has suffered serious injuries while working as helper of the couple.
According to Baran, they scorched her with a flat iron, hit her head and face with figurine , pierced with scissors, being fed with a cockroach, and worst of all, had become blind when they pierced her both eyes.
The suspects were previously invited in a Senate hearing who initially claimed that the injuries incurred by Baran were self-inflicted. However, based from the studies conducted by the Public Attorney’s Office in its Forensic Laboratory, the poor helper acquired more than 200 wounds and bruises all over her body and found it impossible to be self-inflicted.
PAO revealed and concluded that Baran has been tortured by her employers.
It was learned that the helper didn’t find a way to inform the authorities earlier of her case and file a complaint against them for she was always locked inside their house.
Baran only found a chance to inform the authorities when they sent her home to Virac, Catuandes in 2012. They even accompanied her in a bus station and gave her a television to be brought home. She was already blind at that time and the couple just asked the bus’s ticket collector to assist her.
It was also learned that the couple has been imprisoned before, but Reynaldo Marzan has been released after being able to pay for his bail. Catahan on the other hand was left in jail at Camp Karingal after being denied of availing for a bail by the Court.
The Supreme Court has given 15 days to Marzan’s side to file a petition to bail which if the Court rejects, Marzan will have to spend 8 to 14 years in jail as accomplice of his wife for the case of serious illegal detention.
Baran expressed how happy she is the way her case is running. She said that even if she lost her sight, she hopes she will get the justice that she deserves.
However, she expressed her sentiment in saying that what her employers did to her was completely unforgivable and that they should pay for it in jail.
The blind helper never loses hope as she prays for a miracle for even one of her eyes can still see even if the doctor advised her that her both eyes were already blind.
Baran can be considered a hero by house helpers after the Court has come up with the “Kasambahay Law” based on her case. The said law did not only widen the protection and benefits of the helpers but it also aims in having them considered a part of the household of every employer.
The Public Attorney’s Office said that Baran’s case is a proof that justice still reigns in the country.
Baran is currently under the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice.
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Source : ABS-CBN
