Woman who abused maid a 'battered wife'

 Manila, Philippines - A woman accused of abusing her former household helper admitted during yesterday’s Senate hearing that she was beaten by her husband.

During the Senate labor committee’s inquiry into the abuses committed against Bonita Baran, allegedly by her employers Annaliza and Reynold Marzan, the couple denied beating her during the five years she worked with them until she was sent home last May.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, who heads the committee, presented records from a Quezon City court showing that Annaliza filed a case against her husband in 2008 for violating the law penalizing violence against women. 

A teary-eyed Annaliza said she did not pursue the case but offered no details about why she filed it in the first place. She said it was just “one of the problems faced by most couples who do not have a perfect marriage.”

However, Prosecutor Irene Resurreccion of the Quezon City prosecutor’s office said the case filed by Annaliza is very much alive, as far as they are concerned.

The Marzans have been charged with kidnapping, serious illegal detention, attempted murder, and multiple counts of serious physical injury by the Public Attorney’s Office.

The Senate has released the Marzans after they spent two nights in detention for failing to heed a subpoena issued against them.

Estrada signed the release order yesterday afternoon but only after stating his opinion that Reynold and Annaliza were lying when they denied hurting Baran while she was employed with them.

During the continuation of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resource development’s inquiry into the alleged maltreatment of Baran by her employers, the victim and the accused finally faced each other.

Baran, who was in a wheelchair, said Annaliza burned her face with a hot iron, tried to gouge out her eyes and forced her to eat cockroaches. 

Annaliza claimed that the injuries sustained by Baran were self-inflicted and that she also suffered from abuse at the hands of her father in Catanduanes.

Estrada refused to accept Annaliza’s claim because it was not plausible for somebody to burn herself with an iron and even damage her own ear. “My conclusion is that they were lying. How can you possibly inflict harm on yourself?” he said.