BAGUIO: She actively seeks out well-to-do families, a few of them have Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) breadwinners, and then applies as housemaid as her modus to take jewelry and cash while all family members are away.
This is what Marites R. Judan, 42 years old, did for the past three years in various major cities in northern Luzon, police said.
But on May 24, 2016 her wrongdoing apparently turned worst. Not only did she take cash from her employers but also allegedly killed her employer’s child, 15-year old Allery Wagayen, in Pinsao Proper, Baguio City.
It was only last February 6 when she was collared in a joint operation in Alaminos, Pangasinan.
During the course of the investigation, police found out that Judan went by various aliases Marites Relloraza, Florence Macaalay, Marites De Guzman, Brenda Mendoza and Brenda Ducusin.
Police units in Alaminos City, Pangasinan; Solano, Nueva Vizcaya; Santiago, Isabela; Sta. Cruz, Ilocos Sur, and Balaoan, La Union were also on manhunt for her for varionus theft incidents ranging from robbery of P20,000 worth of jewelry, to P300,000 worth of cash.
If the complaints filed against her were true, she could have stolen over P1.5 million.
Investigators said the maid was just hired for only a day in Baguio City and she thought all members of the household in Baguio City were gone when she grabbed the opportunity again to get money.
“The maid didn’t know the teenage girl was still in the house. So when the girl discovered the maid stashing some money, they had a confrontation. Marites pulled her towards the toilet where she stabbed the girl several times,” a police investigator told Pinoy Express OFW.
The girl sustained 13 stab wounds, so gruesome that Baguio City Police Office tagged her as “killer maid” and listed her as No. 1 most wanted in the city.
Judan was arrested together with her live-in partner, Manuel Balangatan, who was wanted as being her accomplice in another robbery incident in Sta. Cruz, Ilocos Sur.
The Filipino Times tried to get the side of Juban but the police would not allow access to her yet. Police said she sought forgiveness from her Baguio employers.
The maid was charged with robbery with homicide in Baguio, and a string of other theft cases in La Union.
Cordillera police director Chief Supt Rolando Nana advised homeowners to be meticulous in hiring domestic helpers. OFWs who could not personally interview maids applying to them should require NBI clearance.
