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Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Pinay maid in Lebanon beaten, killed: NBI
SAN FERNANDO -- Catherine Bautista, the Filipino domestic helper from Lebanon, died of a head fracture caused by clubbing and not from a fall from the second floor of an apartment building, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said Tuesday.
NBI Region 1 medico legal officer Alvin David said the blood that enveloped her brain and the bruises and contusions on her body indicate that Bautista, 22, a resident of Barangay Caloocan Sur in Binmaley town, fought with someone before she was killed.
The NBI findings is contrary to the findings of a Lebanon pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Bautista and who said she died after falling from the second floor of her employer's apartment.
Bautista was discovered dead early this month in the home of the Lebanese couple she worked for and was reported to have tried to escape the apartment of her employer using bed sheets tied together as a rope so she could get out of the apartment through a window in the second floor. She reportedly fell 17 meters.
David said the Lebanon pathologist should explain his erroneous findings that Bautista suffered brain hemorrhage after she fell from the apartment building. She was reportedly found without any contusions on her body.
Bautista's father Roberto sought the intervention of authorities, President Arroyo in particular, in determining the real cause of his daughter's death. He also asked the President to have Jojo Sunga of the Philippine Embassy in Lebanon recalled back to the country to answer for the death of his daughter.
Prior to her death, he said they learned that Bautista was being maltreated by her employer through the text messages she sent to her sisters and brothers.
"She (Bautista) was being pushed downstairs, spoons and forks thrown at her and frequently, she had not been allowed to eat," Roberto said.
Aside from the filing of charges against the victim's employer, David advised Bautista's parents to also file a complaint against the head and personnel of the Philippine Embassy in Lebanon for taking the victim back to her male employer.
The wife of Bautista's employer reportedly helped Bautista escape and brought her to the Philippine Embassy but officials there allowed her to be taken back to her employer.
Bautista was reportedly an undocumented worker. She was brought to Lebanon in November last year by her aunt.
Last April 26, Bautista's father asked the Department of Foreign Affairs for assistance because her daughter had wanted to return to the Philippines.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert earlier said a team has been sent to investigate Bautista's death. She also said all possible assistance will be extended to her family. FPM
(May 19, 2004 issue)
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