Maid, her mama charged after Banilad fire

Charges were filed in court yesterday against a 22-year-old newly hired housemaid who allegedly burned down her employer’s house and killed another helper in Banilad, Cebu City, last Feb. 23.

Aubrey Soria, a helper of the Parcon family, was charged with qualified arson.

The offense is non-bailable.

Aubrey’s mother Minda is also facing a complaint of obstruction of justice  for hiding her daughter to evade arrest.

The two women  were presented before Asst.  City Prosecutor Rodulf Joseph Val Carillo for inquest proceedings at the Palace of Justice.  They had no lawyer to assist them.

Both  suspects opted not to undergo  preliminary investigation. Prosecutors decided to elevate the charges against Aubrey before the Regional Trial Court.

The case against Minda, however, was endorsed to the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, since the mother tried to hide her daughter in a relative’s house in Minglanilla town.

In an interview, Minda said no one could help them retain a lawyer for their defense.

Minda said two of her sons reside in Mindanao while another daughter is based in Manila. She said her children  don’t know about her arrest.

Aubrey was accused of causing the dawn fire in the house of her employer Mariano Parcon Jr. where she reported for work just three days earlier.

Aubrey was hired through a manpower agency and was sent to the Parcon household on the same day she applied for work.

The fire destroyed the house along with the adjoining house of Parcon’s father, 78-year-old retired colonel Mariano Sr.

Some damage was also reported in another house of Parcon’s sister, Arlene Torreflores.

Cornelia Tagalog, one of the family’s housemaids,  died during the fire.

Aubrey admitted stealing two cell phones inside her employer’s house before packing a bag and running away from the burning house.