Photo Release

Continuing crime: Sen. Francis “Tol” Tolentino says the employers of household helper Elvie Vergara, who suffered severe battery and maltreatment resulting in her partial blindness, 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, 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. (Voltaire Domingo/Senate PRIB)