JINGGOY GRILLS HOUSE HELP’S EX-EMPLOYER: Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada quizzes Pablo Ruiz, the former employer of maltreated house helper Elvie Vergara, during the continuation of the public inquiry by the Committee on Justice and Human Rights on Monday, September 25, 2023. Bibo Nueva España / Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines — Pablo Ruiz, one of the employers of allegedly abused household help Elvie Vergara, was held in contempt and detained in the Senate on Monday for purportedly lying and giving inconsistent statements before the lawmakers.
The order comes after senators announced the Ruiz couple failed lie detector test results before the upper chamber’s committee on justice and human rights hearing on the case.
Senator Jinggoy Estrada seconded the earlier motion made by Senator Raffy Tulfo, which was approved by committee chairmen Senator Francis Tolentino.
READ: Senate detains employer of maltreated maid for telling lies, inconsistencies
“The motion of Senator Tulfo seconded by Senator Estrada to likewise detain within the premises of the Senate the person of Mr. Pablo Ruiz for the same reasons considered by the committee when it detained Mrs. Ruiz,” Tolentino said.
READ: Elvie Vergara’s co-household workers also cry abuse vs ex-employers
“The sergeant at arms is hereby directed to facilitate the implementation of the same subject to appropriate medical examinations, right of visitation by relatives, as well as the right to counsel,” he added.
Earlier during the hearing, Tolentino also announced that the committee had denied the Ruiz camp’s motion to reconsider the contempt order against France and rejected the request for her immediate release.
Ruiz children were allowed to visit, sleep in Senate detention
Following the committee’s directive to detain the couple in the Senate, their legal counsel sought the lawmakers’ reconsideration to deny both orders, reasoning that the Ruiz children — one minor and another 18 years old — will be left alone in Occidental Mindoro.
The couple’s camp likewise pointed out that the detainment of France and Pablo may cause “languish and despair” among their children, given that no adult will take care of them.
In response, Estrada pointed out that both teenagers will have visitation rights and likewise sleep in a separate room within the Senate, which was allowed by officials of the Commission on Human Rights present during the hearing.
“Okay naman matulog sila [dito] kung gustuhin ng mga bata kahit sa separate room. Papayagan namin yon,” the senator said.
(It’s okay if they want to sleep here. They will be given a separate room. We will allow it.)