Maid, lover charged for medical school dean’s rob-slay

MANILA, Philippines — A maid and her lover have been arrested and charged for the killing of a medical school dean at her home in Las Piñas City on May 11.

Domestic helper Juvy Bandoy Acero, 43, and her partner of nearly two years, Dindo Legario, 39, allegedly conspired with another man, identified only as “Rodel,” to rob Dr. Harivelle Hernando, 62, the dean of the University of Perpetual Help System Dalta’s school of medicine, according to a police report.

Acero previously claimed that she heard moans coming from Hernando’s room on the second floor, prompting her to call police. Hernando had been stabbed in the chest when police found her.

The maid blamed Hernando’s former driver for the killing. 

Chief Inspector Joel Gomez told The STAR that Acero lied. He said Acero – who had been working for Hernando for about a month – recommended Legario to replace the driver her employer fired last April 26. 

Police said Hernando told Legario to paint her house while her car was being repaired. A week into his employ, the dean asked Legario to go on leave after Acero and Legario had a heated argument.

Police said Acero told Legario to bring a companion, Rodel, and return on May 11 to rob Hernando’s vault.

Acero gagged her employer while Legario bound her hands with electrical wire. Rodel stabbed the dean, Legario told police.

Legario and Rodel took Hernando’s cell phone and a wallet containing ATM cards and P3,000 cash but failed to steal anything from the vault, police said. 

Acero was interested in Hernando’s vault after her employer told her she recently sold property worth millions of pesos, Gomez said.

Police filed charges of robbery with homicide against Acero and Legario before the Las Piñas city prosecutor on May 12. Rodel remains at large.

Legario had served a year in prison for frustrated homicide in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

He told The STAR that he does not bear a grudge against Hernando when she asked him to go on leave after he and Acero had an argument over a call from a man he suspected of being Acero’s lover.