Senators vow justice for Vergara

FINALLY, the controversial former employers of household helper Elvie Vergara appeared before the Senate committee on Justice and Human Rights chaired by Senator Francis Tolentino.

Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada grilled the former employers of Vergara about their alleged maltreatment and abuse against her including her partial blindness.

Estrada interrogated the couple, France and Pablo Ruiz, who appeared for the first time in the hearing regarding Vergara’s injuries and their reported failure to pay her wages.

The couple who was subpoenaed by the committee denied all allegations hurled against them saying Vergara was into a fight with another household helper which led to her blindness.

They also claimed that Vergara refused to regularly take a bath and has been scratching herself, causing her wounds all over her body.

“Resulta po yan ng mga away nila ng iba pang kasambahay,” Ruiz told the committee

Estrada, who authored the “Batas Kasambahay” or Republic Act No. 10361, promised to hold Vergara’s former employers accountable for their actions said he cannot accept the lies of France and Pablo Ruiz insisting that the CT Scan of Vergara which shows deformity in her nose and skull can speak for itself.

Sen. Tolentino said the employers of household helper Elvie Vergara, who suffered severe battery and maltreatment committed a continuing crime when she was transferred and continued to work at the house of the employers’ daughter in Batangas City.

Presiding over the continuation of the public hearing on the Vergara case Tuesday, September 5, 2023 of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Tolentino, upon questioning another househelp, Ma. Fe Guillermo Villar, said Vergara was transferred to Palokan West, Batangas City in May 2023 where France and Pablo Ruiz’s daughter Danica stays, supposedly for medication.

However, Vergara did not receive medication because the Ruiz couple failed to give them money to cover the medical expenses.

It was only in June when Vergara was admitted to Batangas Medical Center after she was rescued by her sisters.

“It would show that when Elvie Vergara was transferred, apparently for medical assistance to a place in Batangas City to another member of the household of the Ruiz family, that she was also asked to continue the same work as a household helper for a month… And according to (Senior Deputy) State Prosecutor (Richard) Fadullon, this could be considered as a continuing crime that started in Mamburao (Occidental Mindoro) on the way to Batangas City,” Tolentino said.

Tolentino and Estrada said they will dig deeper into the issue as they promised to give justice to Vergara.