Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Friday that residences and offices of Philippine ambassadors worldwide should have CCTV cameras installed to prevent maltreatment such as the alleged abuse experienced by a Filipina helper in Brazil.
“I’m proposing the budget deliberations, and I will request Senator Sonny Angara, the chairperson of the Committee on Finance, to appropriate an additional fund to the Department of Foreign Affairs para sa kanilang CCTV program,” Zubiri said in an interview on CNN Philippines.
“Lagyan ng CCTV lahat ng tahanan, of course except the bathroom and bedrooms… para sa ganoon ay makita natin itong pangyayari. Online naman ang mga CCTV ngayon, it’s all in the cloud. If they make a mistake, they can no longer erase it,” he added.
Zubiri made the recommendation after Philippine Ambassador to Brazil Marichu Mauro was caught on video hitting her 51-year-old Filipina household worker.
According to Section 51 of the Foreign Service Act, “Chiefs of Mission who are commissioned by the President as ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary shall not be investigated by the Board or separated from the service unless there is an express written directive from the President.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Marichu Mauro was ordered to return home immediately following video footage released.
Install CCTVs Philippine diplomatic offices, residences abroad – Zubiri
“The Philippine ambassador to Brazil has been recalled effective immediately to explain the maltreatment of her service staff,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the household service staff left Brasilia on October 21 and had returned to the Philippines, DFA added.
Zubiri said a Senate investigation is no longer needed since the DFA has already launched a probe on the incident.
Still, the senator described Mauro’s act as a “black eye” to the DFA.
“It’s a bit of an international incident against us, against the Filipinos and a black eye to the Foreign Affairs department,” Zubiri said.
“It also sends a bad signal to countries where they abuse our compatriots… With an incident coming out like this where a person of authority who’s supposed to protect the Filipinos is actually the one maltreating Filipinos, eh baka gamitin pa nila ‘yan at sabihin o mga abusador din ang mga tao ninyo,” he added.