Mary Jane Sollano’s hands must have burst with red, raw sores as hot water was poured on them. The battered maid was allegedly punished for eating food of her employers, Chinoy billionaire Mariano Tanenglian and his family. Sometimes, her bosses reportedly took nude photos of her and the other helpers, then whacked them with steel pipes, or chained their necks.
Sollano, represented by her lawyer Al Parreno, yeaterday filed additional criminal charges of maltreatment, serious illegal detention, slavery and frustrated homicide before the Department of Justice agains Mariano Tanenglian, his wife Aleta, as well as children Maximillian and Fayette.
In a three-page affidavit, Sollano detailed how she was allegedly “physically and mentally abused” by the Tanenglian family inside their residence at Brgy. Siena in Quezon City from July 2004 to Aug. 10. The maid claimed she and her fellow helpers were “not allowed to use the telephone or cellphone, laugh, sit in their (family’s) chairs, look outside the window, watch TV, eat at any time, sleep or rest before our tasks were completed, and read any reading material or even write.
During her first month at the Tanenglian household, Sollano alleged she was already maltreated and abused by the Tanenglians. “I was not yet familiar with my job so Ate Aleta got mad and slapped me. Since then, they would instantly hurt me for every small mistake I make,” she said. “In my five-year stay in their house, I was not allowed to go out. They even threatened me that they would do something bad if I ask for help from outside.”
Sollano said she tried to escape by asking permission to go home to her province in Zamboanga del Sur, but her employers would not allow her. She was told that she had to finish her two-year contract.
When her contract ended in 2006, Alete supposedly called a lawyer and told the housemaid to sign a new contract without reading its contents. She only learned later on that she signed the new contract for another two years service in the house.
Sollano added that she pleaded to her employer to let her go, but Aleta said she still had debts to pay.
“I could not do anything but to just follow (them),” she lamented.
She even recalled an instance where she was brought by Aleta and Fayette to a room where they tool nude photos of her.
“When they were not yet satisfied, they would hit me with steel or slippers and threaten me that they would show my nude photos to other people or bring me to a nightclub owned by Ate Aleta’s friend,” she alleged.
Sollano said Fayette once poured hot water on her hands after she was caught eating their food. In another incident, her hands and neck were supposedly chained.
Attached with the complaint were affidavits from police, Commission on Human Rights, Department of Social Welfare and Development as well as other persons present during the rescue of the housemaid.
Sollano, who had been working for Tangelian’s household for five years anf two months, was rescued by operatives from the Quezon City Police District, CHR and DSWD last Aug. 10.
Fearing she was dead, her parents learned of their daughter’s whereabouts only through the help of Aljane Bacanto, a fellow housemaid who escaped the Tangelian’s household recently.
People’s Tonight
August 28, 2009
Page 1
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