Inmates ready to 'iron' Marzans

MANILA, Philippines - Inmates at the Quezon City Jail warned yesterday a couple accused of abusing their former helper that they will get the same treatment they allegedly gave her.

“We are ready here. Our irons are ready for them,” the inmates at the jail’s female dormitory chanted in Filipino upon hearing the news that Annaliza Marzan was on her way there.

Marzan and her husband, Reynold, are facing charges for reportedly beating Bonita Baran during the five years she worked for them. Baran had alleged that Annaliza used an iron on her face.

The couple had asked Judge Germano Francisco Legaspi of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 77, to allow them to be detained at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), where they had surrendered. Legaspi earlier issued a warrant for the Marzans’ arrest on charges of serious illegal detention, a non-bailable offense.

Apart from the charges of serious illegal detention, Annaliza was also charged with two counts of attempted homicide before the RTC and seven counts of serious physical injury before the Metropolitan Trial Court.

The prosecutor who conducted the preliminary investigation of the complaints filed by Baran dismissed the charges against Reynold as an accessory to the crime of serious physical injuries and attempted murder for insufficiency of evidence.

As the judge decided on the request, Annaliza and Reynold were brought to the jail’s female dormitory, which is housed at Camp Karingal by Senate personnel at past 3 p.m. Minutes later, Senate personnel escorted Reynold out of the female dormitory and brought him to the main jail facility along EDSA.

Legaspi issued his ruling denying the Marzans’ motion at past 4 p.m.

In junking the motion, Legaspi said he found no compelling reason to depart from the mandate of Republic Act 6975, which states that persons awaiting trial shall be detained at the city jail.

“Any perceived inconvenience the children might suffer in visiting their parents at different detention cells is so insignificant so as to warrant the detention of both accused at the NBI,” the judge said.

Legaspi said the couple did not present during the court hearing evidence that would support their claim that Annaliza has a kidney ailment, such as a medical certificate and the testimony of a qualified doctor.

The couple’s lawyer, Joel Ferrer, said in the motion that it would be more convenient for the couple’s three children to visit them at the NBI detention center. – With Michael Punongbayan