Jail execs assure safety of couple in maid abuse case

From an air-conditioned room in the Senate where they were detained for repeatedly snubbing a hearing on their alleged abusive behavior toward their ex-maid, Analiza and Reynold Marzan are now ordinary inmates at the Quezon City Jail. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines–Jail officials on Friday assured the safety of Analiza Marzan and her husband Reynold while in detention on charges that they tortured their former maid Bonita Baran for several years until she went blind.

SJO4 Eduardo Cuaresma of the jail’s female dormitory said the Marzans will be safe in detention, a day after some of the inmates were heard poking fun at the incoming detainee before she arrived at the facility on Thursday.

“They cannot have flat irons in their cells. The inmates were probably just taunting the new inmate. But they don’t mean it,” the officer told reporters on Friday.

Some female inmates were heard yelling “handa na mga plantsa namin! (our flat irons are ready!)” shortly before Analiza arrived at the jail at around 3 p.m.

It was an apparent reference to Baran’s allegation that Analiza burned her face with a flat iron, among other abuses at the hand of the Marzans.

Cuaresma said Analiza was “quiet” and mostly kept to herself during her first night at the dormitory in Camp Karingal, Barangay Sikatuna Village, where she shares a cell with other women.

Heated arguments among female inmates happen but they hardly lead to violent physical confrontations, he said.

“We use a therapeutic modality here. Women have no gang affiliations,” he added.

Analiza’s husband, Reynold, stays in a cell of the QCJ building with other inmates who have no gang affiliations. Jail warden Supt. Joseph Vela also assured Reynold’s safety.

Vela noted that Reynold’s cell is the one nearest to his office, thus, easy to check. “I also instructed the cell leader to make sure that Reynold would not be touched,” the official said.

On Thursday, Judge Germano Francisco Legaspi of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 77 denied the couple’s bid to be detained at the National Bureau of Investigation headquarters and instead committed them to the city jail.

The Marzans are facing charges of serious illegal detention filed by Baran. Analiza is also charged with two counts of attempted homicide and seven counts of serious physical injuries.