Charges against ex-UN envoy baseless - lawyer

CHICAGO, Illinois – The lawyer of former Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations Lauro Baja Jr. said the racketeering and human trafficking lawsuit filed against his client has no sufficient basis and is only meant to tarnish his reputation. Filipino-American lawyer Salvador Tuy said Baja’s former domestic helper cannot assert the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act since there is no racketeering or pattern of abuse. "This is a demolition job against Mr. Baja," said Tuy in an e-mail. In the definition of online law encyclopedia, www.law.jrank.org, RICO's broadest and most-used section prohibits conducting the affairs of any "enterprise" –defined broadly to include just about any form of human endeavor— through a "pattern of racketeering activity." Marichu Suarez Baoanan, a 39-year-old nursing graduate, accused Baja, his wife, Norma and their daughter, Maria Elizabeth, with forced labor, trafficking and unlawful conduct with respect to peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude or forced labor, and the RICO Act. The three were charged on June 24 before the United District Court in the Southern District of New York. Labor abuse? In the 25-page complaint, Baoanan said the Bajas lured her to the US and promised her a job as a nurse. In exchange for their services which included her plane fare to the US, a visa, work authorization and assistance with finding employment, Baonan was told to pay 500,000 pesos (roughly US$11,000). According to the complaint, The Labaire International Travel, Inc., owned by the Bajas, facilitated Baoanan's travel papers, collected fees, and provided temporary housing for her. When she said she cannot afford the expenses, Norma Baja told her 250,000 pesos (US$5,000) would be sufficient. Baoanan agreed to pay it in three installments. The complaint further said that Norma and another woman, Dorie, accompanied Baoanan to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs and applied for a new diplomatic (red) passport as Baja’s domestic worker to expedite the passport application process. Baoanan said she thought it was Dorie, who was supposed to be Baja’s domestic worker. But upon her arrival in the US on January 13, 2006, Baoanan said in the complaint that the Bajas confiscated her passport and subjected her to three months of "involuntary servitude, forced labor, debt bondage, peonage, slavery and psychological abuse." Baoanan was told to work at least 18 hours a day, seven days a week with no days off for three months for merely $100. As of Jan. 1, 2006, New York law requires employers to pay their workers at least $6.75 per hour for each hour of time worked up to forty-four hours of work per week or $1,188 a month. Living with the Bajas Baoanan's duties included cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, ironing clothes, monitoring the diabetes and blood pressure of Norma and taking care of Elizabeth's son, Miguel, for which she received an additional $100. On top of that, Baoanan also prepared and cleaned up after the weekly parties held at the Baja household. She also claimed she was made to sleep on the basement of the Philippine Consular residence in New York with only a thin blanket on the cold floor. According to Baoanan's complaint, her meals were “leftovers" and sometimes Elizabeth would watch her eat, “humiliating" and “preventing her from eating further." Baoanan also complained that the former UN envoy refused to discipline Miguel when the boy hit her with a broom, spat in her face and kicked her in the face. She was never paid the state minimum, which $6.75 per hour. Nor was she ever been paid state overtime for her work over 40 hours per week, the complaint added. The former envoy said he suspects Baoanan just wants to evade deportation so she filed the cases. According to Baja, when Baoanan left their house less than three months after arriving in the US, she became an illegal alien and is subject to deportation. Under the US law, a foreign worker will not be deported until the case he or she filed in the court against his or her employer is resolved. "My lawyer said we have to decide if we will file damages," said Baja. - GMANews.TV