Philippines fires former Brazil ambassador over domestic worker abuse
- Marichu Mauro was recalled to Manila last year after Brazilian media broadcast CCTV footage of her repeatedly assaulting the staff member
- President Rodrigo Duterte said ‘there are rules to be followed’. The former diplomat will lose her pension and is barred from standing for public office
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Marichu Mauro was recalled to Manila late last year after Brazil’s GloboNews channel broadcast security camera footage filmed over eight months showing her repeatedly assaulting a member of her household staff.
“There are rules to be followed. If you disobey, you take the risk. If something goes wrong, it’s gonna hit you,” Duterte said.
Philippines recalls ambassador to Brazil for allegedly mistreating domestic staff
Mauro’s firing means she will lose her pension. She is also barred from standing for public office.
According to GloboNews, the Filipino worker was employed at the ambassador’s official residence, a large gated compound in Brazil’s capital.
Footage of the abuse – dated between March and October 2020 – was used as evidence in a complaint lodged with the Philippine government against Mauro, it said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said at the time that the unidentified victim had returned to Philippines and that it was trying to reach her amid an investigation.
Mauro has not publicly commented on the allegations. She was posted to Brazil in 2018, from where she oversaw the missions to Colombia, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela.
Mauro has not responded to requests for comment on her dismissal.
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But many of these workers face difficult or dangerous conditions, and reports of physical or psychological abuse are not uncommon, though most instances involve foreign employers.
The decision comes as Duterte pushes a campaign against official abuses and corruption in his last full year in power.
Duterte, whose six-year term ends next year, has been reading the names of government employees and officers implicated in corruption in his TV appearances to highlight his campaign against abuses and irregularities.
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But Duterte, a former government prosecutor who has threatened drug suspects with death and is known for his expletives-laden outbursts, has faced criticisms for abusive behaviour himself. In his televised remarks on Monday night, Duterte lashed out at Vice-President Leni Robredo for criticising the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak and vaccination campaign.
“You seem to have an angel face but a devilish mind,” Duterte said, calling Robredo’s stance “idiotic” in his rambling speech.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
