In September 2013, the two maids then filed a case of grave coercion and robbery against Claudine for getting their cellphones and other gadgets before driving them out of her house. The grave coercion case was dismissed but the robbery charge progressed after the prosecutor found probable cause. A warrant of arrest was issued against Claudine who says she believes her ex-husband and her sister Gretchen are backing up the maids. Earlier, it will be recalled that Gretchen helped in freeing another maid, Dessa Patillan, who was sent to jail by Claudine also for qualified theft. It was Gretchen who paid for her bail.
Claudine said in a statement: “It now appears that members of my own family who have an axe to grind against me for imagined wrongs, will continue to collude and will stop at nothing to intimidate and harass me as a result of the cases I filed against them to protect my children and to stop the physical, mental, psychological and financial abuse being heaped against me and my children.”
Claudine is required to pay P100,000 as bail so she won’t be imprisoned. She said that amount is meant to pay for the tuition fees of her and Raymart’s two kids, Sabina and Santino. “In fact, I have just paid for the tuition fee for our children for the coming school year, and I will need more funds for them to continue the high-quality education I have committed to provide for them, and school records will show that they are excelling in their respective schools.
“This, I repeat, is because in spite of Mr. Santiago’s hypocritical avowals of affection for our children, he has not given any support whatsoever for close to a year. If that is how he shows his love for his children by ruining their mother and trying to send her to jail -- then Mr. Santiago is a twisted person indeed.”
There was a hearing on this case last Friday, but Claudine didn’t show up. She reportedly has mumps. The two maids were there in court and they insisted that Gretchen and Raymart are not helping them with the case at all.
Several attempts have been made to interview Raymart Santiago about this, but he chooses to be silent. Raymart has a regular show, “Villa Quintana”, but he has turned down all request for interviews with him, especially when it concerns his ex-wife who have attacked him even in social media.
A friend said he’d rather focus his time on taping for “Villa Quintana”, managing the businesses he has put up and doing his favorite hobby, sky diving. “Alam naman niyang wala siyang mapapala kung sasagot pa siya dahil nasa korte na ang lahat at ang korte na lang ang bahalang humusga,” says someone close to him.
