Maid stole phone, cash then burned house

THE house maid who burned down her employer’s house in Banilad, Cebu City yesterday admitted stealing two cellphones then setting fire to personal documents so that no one could find her when she ran off.

Aubrey Soria, 22, was arrested at her uncle’s home in Minglanilla town Wednesday night and will face a charge of arson with homicide for the fire which killed a fellow housemaid at Holy Family Village.

Soria was hired through a manpower agency three days before the fire.

She admitted stealing two cellphones before packing a bag and running from the burning house of her new employer Mariano Parcon Jr.

She told police she didn’t intend to burn the house.

The young woman was arrested with her mother who tried to help her run away.

Soria said she only set fire to her biodata sheet and a work contract because she wanted to leave and didn’t want her employer to trace her.

She told police that she placed the documents on a table and lit them with a match but that the fire got out of control.

In her bag were two cellphones of the Parcons, a bottle of perfume and P1,570 cash believed taken from her co-housemaid Cornelia Tagalog, who died in the fire.

The Parcon family, including Mariano’s elderly parents living next door were able to escape the blaze unharmed but bother their houses were destroyed.

Soria’s mother pleaded for forgiveness, saying her daughter had a son who was ill. Soria was hired through the Arizo Manpower Services. She applied with the agency Monday morning and was sent to the Parcon family in the afternoon.

She and her mother remain detained in the Cebu City Police Office pending the filing of arson charges against the maid.

Be careful in hiring domestic helpers, said police.

This was the advice of Homicide Section deputy chief SPO4 Dennis Moga after the arrest of Soria.

He said families should check the background of an applicant by asking relatives or somebody reliable to vouch for their character.Correspondent Jhunnex Napallacan with reports from Correspondents Carine M Asutilla and Chito O. Aragon