Trafficking, kidnap raps dropped vs family in maid abuse case

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice has reversed its earlier resolutions and junked the qualified trafficking, kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges filed against businessman Mariano Tanenglian and his family.

But the DOJ, in two separate review resolutions – for the cases separately filed by the family’s former maids, Mary Jane Sollano and Aljane Bacanto – both dated July 15, affirmed the child abuse charges against Tanenglian, his wife Aleta and children Fayette and Maximilian.

Both resolutions, copies of which were obtained by The STAR, were signed by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Pedrito Rances and approved by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano.

But even before the DOJ resolutions came out, a Quezon City court had dismissed the trafficking, kidnapping and serious illegal detention cases filed by Sollano. These dismissed cases are the ones that are non-bailable. In her case, only the child abuse charges were upheld by the court.

The trafficking, kidnapping and serious illegal detention and child abuse charges filed by Bacanto are still pending in court.

Separate warrants of arrests have been issued for the cases separately filed by the two former house helpers.

In its review resolution pertaining to the case filed by Bacanto, the DOJ said: “The allegations and evidence submitted had established probable cause that respondents committed the acts of cruelty and physical abuse against complainant and had subjected her to conditions prejudicial to her normal development as a child.” The DOJ also affirmed the finding of probable cause in the child abuse case filed by Sollano.

But the DOJ said it appeared that the Tanenglian family did not commit qualified human trafficking.

“It is customary that some housemaids, cooks, drivers and other household helpers are recruited and/or invited from the provinces for employment as such in the National Capital Region or in any other urban centers in the country… While it cannot be denied that some of them were employed by abusive employers, it cannot be said, in the absence of any clear evidence to this effect, that these helpers are employed for purposes of trafficking.”

As for the charges of serious illegal detention, the DOJ said Bacanto and another helper named Inocencia were both allowed to leave the house and that the Tanenglians shouldered Bacanto’s plane ticket to Tacloban City, giving no reason to detain Sollano.

The Tanenglians had denied the charges against them and their lawyer had linked the case to Mariano’s move to testify against his estranged brother, tycoon Lucio Tan, in a government case.