‘Sa Totoo Lang- Kasambahay’

HELLO, TORONTO!
While many bosses of households throughout the country have expressed non belief that this thing could have happened for such length of time without the victim doing something about it (escape from the house or retaliate), many more have condemned the spouses Marzan (Reynold and Analiza ) of Quezon City for the maltreatment they have subjected their household help or kasambahay Bonita Baran for years.
Bonita, a native of Catanduanes was just a minor when she decided to work as kasambahay with the Marzans. Today at 21 years old, she has a blind right eye, a defective left eye which, according to eye doctors who checked it may hopefully regain full vision after serious treatment, deformed ear and lips, and other serious injuries all over the body allegedly due to repeated beatings by her employers.
The Marzans who have been in hiding for a while have surfaced and have been arraigned in criminal court. Hopefully, justice may be given faster now that reforms in the judiciary are being implemented and that the guilty may be meted out their due.
Despite the retort from the Marzan camp that Bonita lied in her accusations, I fully believe in the accounts of a living hell lived by this barrio lass while in the employ of the couple. I base it on a past experience many years ago, when I saw for myself horrorful proof of the cruelty of so- called more ‘educated’ and well- off individuals to their domestic helpers.
I am not in the habit of chatting lengthily with my neighbours here in Bgy. Kaunlaran where my family has resided for over 50 years. But one Valentine’s Day many years ago, while I was cooking a treat for the members of my household, my own kasambahay Nilda came to the kitchen, quite agitated and on the verge of tears, to ask permission if she ca lend succor to her friend Amy, my nearest neighbor’s kasambahay (katulong pa was the word then) and bring her to the house to stay for a while. Nilda said her friend was beaten up badly by her female boss and needs to heal. I said by all means, she can bring Amy to the house.
I was not prepared at the sight of Amy when I saw her- her eyes were swollen from being punched, her arms were bruised, she could walk straight as her body ached, she said, because her amo beat her with a dos por dos while she was hanging the laundry in the sampayan at the back of the house. Later on, she would show me her back and I would see marks of a plantsa- idinikit sa kanyang balat while it was hot- parusa cause hindi maganda ang kanyang pagplantsa uniform ng boss. But Amy was not shedding a tear- nasanay na sa pananakit, nabantad na sa hapdi ng mga sugat na natanggap sa kamay ng kanyang amo who has made the beatings a regular practice.
While my sister Joy and Nilda treated her wounds, Amy told us of how life has been since she lived with my neighbours, the Manalos ( unbelievable but that Mrs. Manalo was a teacher of Good Manners and Right Conduct in a public school in Manila at that time!). She said she was 14 years old and was brought by her mother to work as helper to pay off a big debt she incurred with her. She was from Samar. She said she had Baldo Maro ( who appears as stuntman in local action films) for a relative and that to her is a rare source of pride. But she did not know how to reach her relatives. She said she just waited for her mother to make her visits (and perhaps make utang of more money because Amy was employed and could pay off the debt with her daughter’s domestic services ).
I did the best thing I could think of. I brought her to the tv station where I worked, and Ms. Rosa Rosal who hosted a public service program at the time (Damayan) made the panawagan for Amy’s relatives to come and help her. We waited for a few days and when no one came, Ms. Rosal advised me to see then Quezon City Vice- Mayor Planas for assistance. The good Vice Mayor was very attentive- she had an office photographer take photos of Amy’s injuries, had a doctor examine her, and then to the nearby Court of Justice building Amy and I went to file criminal charges against the amo.
When the papers were served to the Manalos, that was the first time they got agitated- for they did not imagine that this minor could get back at them. The amo’s mother came to my house to beseech me to drop the case but I said this was not up to me but it was up to Amy. I even sought the advise of then Education Usec Erlinda Pefianco as to what case Amy can file against this teacher- amo who has not extended her values/ good conduct lessons in the perimeter of her own home.
To make the story short, I took Amy to the scheduled court hearings in the hope that the judge will make her court decision promptly. But then, the lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office who was assigned to Amy convinced her to settle out of court- this was based on the judge’s admonition to have both parties come to an agreement to settle the grievance. Amy who had tired of taking the trips to the Court of Justice by that time finally relented and agreed to withdraw the case upon a financial settlement with the accused.
I had some misgivings at this but could not do anything because I knew it was really up to the girl’s decision.
Today, as the Marzan couple has been arraigned in court, I harbour the wish that Bonita Baran will pursue her case to the end- I think she will be able to that. Her counsel, no less than the chief of the Public Attorney’s Office Atty. Persidia Acosta is commited to reaching for the stiffest penalties deserved by the accused. Bonita also has the steadfast support of her family and a number of civic groups.
Meantime, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, also a staunch supporter of Bonita and other kasambahays suffering the same fate is pushing very hard for the passage of the Kasambahay Bill that he has co- authored in the Senate of the Philippines. Among other things, the Bill provides for additional benefits for the domestic helper , making their line of specialization and their collective kasambahay group part and parcel of the big sector of workers in this nation. The Bill likewise specifies the penalties for maltreatment and injustices done to any kasambahay during their employ in any household..
When Bonita triumphs, it will be, to me, a realization of a dream that I had for Amy- true, unadulterated justice for the suffering she went through in the hands of a fellow human being. For me, no amount of money can top that.
THANK YOU, TORONTO!