Domestic Helper’s Employer Testifies She Had Never Seen Her Standing On Glass Awning

By
Eryka Rojas
-
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I think we’ve all had that one itch that’s unfortunately located at the most godforsaken area of your back that’s just humanly impossible to reach.

How you approach this minor inconvenience is entirely up to you. I could do up an entire personality quiz with just that – Your Personality Based on That Itch on Your Back.

Image: Skeffling

But life, being the never-ending complexity that it is, sometimes makes “the unreachable” go beyond just a scratch on your back.

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Sometimes, it’s a glass awning on the second floor of your employee’s residence.

On 25 October, the employer of Ms Taculad Rose Mae Mata, the domestic helper who was caught cleaning a second-storey glass awning, provided her statement to the district court saying that she had never seen her helper standing on the awning.

Image: Villegas Lyn Balbao

“Come Back you Shouldn’t Be There” 

In July 2017, the domestic helper, Ms Taculad Rose Mae Mata, was seen standing on the glass surface of a second-storey glass awning.

According to an article in The Straits Times, Ms Mata had told the district court on 24 October that her employer, Belinda Huber, had not told her off but instead advised her to hold on to the railing as she cleaned the awning.

She stated that this occurred on two separate occasions.

However, during her testimony last Friday on 25 October, Ms Huber denied ever seeing Ms Mata going about the task. She said that she would have told her helper: “Come back. You shouldn’t be there.”

Image: Giphy

However, on a separate hearing held the day before, a domestic helper who lived next door, Ms Villegas Lyn Balbao, took a stand and testified that she had been ironing when she spotted Ms Mata cleaning on the awning.

It was also Ms Mata who wanted the viral picture to be taken.

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According to Ms Balbao, she had asked Ms Mata if she wanted the image to be passed on to the Ministry of Manpower, to which Ms Mata agreed. However, the photograph was instead posted online where it went viral soon after.

“To Save Water”

Ms Mata, who worked at Huber’s Goldhill Avenue residence from April 2016 to March 2017, said that it was not Ms Huber who instructed her to clean in such a manner.

She shared that it was Ms Huber’s mother, Madam Tran Kim Anh, who gave her the orders to clean the awning when it rained to save water.

Madam Tran declined to this statement last Friday. Like her daughter, she claimed that she had never seen the domestic helper on the awning.

Image: Giphy

Could Not Get Along With Other Helpers, Had a Lot of “Issues” 

Ms Huber told the district court that Ms Mata caused her “a lot issues” during her time of employment.

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She said that the Filipina had trouble getting along with the helpers in her residence. She also added that there has been several instances of strangers turning up at the house. Ms Mata is also known for coming home late, and on some occasions, stealing food.

Image: Gyfcat

Ms Huber is subject to one count of failing to provide a safe working environment for the domestic helper. She was put out on bail of $5,000 and is expected to be given the judge’s final verdict on 28 January 2020. If convicted, Ms Huber can be jailed for up to a year and fined $10,000.

It is unfortunate that such cases have grown in frequency over the last few years. For a country that is renowned for its top-notch standards of safety, better treatment of our domestic helpers is something that we should strive to work for.

After all, these people are providers, mothers, and daughters, to their families back in their home country.

Let’s move towards treating them with the same respect as every other person on the street.

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Eryka Rojas
Email: [email protected]