Maltreated household helper thanks PRRD for swift justice

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (PNA) – The household helper maltreated by dismissed Philippine Ambassador to Brazil Marichu Mauro thanked President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday for the swift and decisive action on her case.

Leonila de Ocampo, 51, said she is grateful to the President for making sure that she received all the necessary assistance following her ordeal, especially during her return from Brazil in October last year to her home in Koronadal City.

De Ocampo said the government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, assisted her in coping with the situation and properly handled her case.

“Thank you, President Duterte, and to everyone who helped me,” she said in the vernacular in an interview over radio station Bombo Radyo in Koronadal City.

De Ocampo, who lives with her 24-year-old daughter, said she has since moved on from the unfortunate episode in Brazil and that she has already forgiven her former employer, whom she served for two years and seven months.

She said she was also saddened with how things turned out for her.

De Ocampo started working for Mauro’s family in Manila in 2017 and took care of her sick aunt for at least a year.

When Mauro’s aunt died, she was invited to work for the former ambassador and eventually joined her in Brazil on April 19, 2018.

She said she was initially treated well by her employer, but things eventually turned around and worsened during the early weeks of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic last year.

Due to the lockdowns imposed by the government of Brazil, Mauro was forced to work at the ambassador’s residence, where the reported abuses that were captured by closed-circuit television or CCTV cameras took place.

De Ocampo said she was supposed to go home in March last year but was forced to stay on after her flight was rescheduled several times due to the pandemic.

She managed to return home after video footage of her alleged abuse in the hands of Mauro came out in October.

De Ocampo said the former ambassador called her up when she was undergoing mandatory quarantine upon returning home last year and apologized for everything that happened.

“I don’t hold any grudge and had not even considered filing a case against her. I decided to leave everything to God,” she said.

Mauro was recalled by DFA in October last year and eventually charged over the allegations of physical abuse against de Ocampo.

President Duterte announced her dismissal from service on Monday evening.

The dismissal order carries accessory penalties such as cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits, and perpetual disqualification from holding public office.