Taipan keeps hands off brother’s woes with maid

The camp of billionaire Lucio Tan yesterday issued a statement distancing the taipan from a recent scandal involving the alleged detention and maltreatment of a housemaid by the younger brother’s family.

Tan and his brother, Mariano Tanenglian, have houses in the same compound in Quezon City but are reportedly feuding.

Lucio Tan Group spokesperson, retired Lt. Gen. Salvador M. Mison issued the clarification after reports came out about the rescue of an 18-year-old maid from Tanenglian’s residences on Monday by combined elements of the Commission on Human Rights, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Quezon City Police.

“While it is true that Lucio Tanand Mariano Tanenglian live in the same compound in Quezon City, they maintain separate and independent households. They also have different sets of house helpers,” Mison explained.

“We are saddened by this unfortunate turn of events. We hope Tanenglian’s family would be able to explain their side in the proper forum,” he added.

Mison, who is also president of Tan’s holding firm Basic Holdings Corp., stressed that the taipan was out of the country when the incident occurred. He learned about it from family members and media reports.

Lawyer Anna Marie Trinidad said the housemaid, Mary Jane Sollano, 18, was employed when she was only 13 and was not allowed to go out of the house or communicate with relatives during her stay at Tanenglian house. Her relatives were worried about her and complained to authorities.

Chief Insp. Felicissima Buco, head of the Quezon City Police District Women’s Section, said a lawyer representing Tanenglian family faced the girl’s father. Tan’s brother never showed up.

Buco said “the girl was released after she was forced to sign a document saying she and her father would no longer file a case against the employer.”

The father of the girl was fiven P150,000 representing her salary and bonus,” Buco said, adding: “We were told the employer also offered to pay for their plane fare.”

The agreement, worded in Filipino, was also signed by the girl’s father and the chair of the Sto. Domingo barangay, Richard N. Yu, who accompanied the rescue team, Buco said.

“It was signed by the victim under duress, so she could leave the house,” added Buco.

Source:
Philippine Daily Inquirer
August 13, 2009
Page A4