An inmate at the Pasay City Jail was found hanging from the door of the bathroom of the detention facility on Tuesday morning but it was unclear for investigators if he committed suicide or there was foul play involved.
Ronald Marcelo, 30, was discovered dead by his fellow detainees at the detention cell of the Station Detention and Management Unit of the Pasay City Police at around 8 a.m.
Pasay City chief of police Senior Supt. Joel Doria told the Inquirer that a yellow cloth strangling Marcelo’s neck was tied to a metal bar on the restroom door.
Doria said Marcelo was immediately taken down and given first aid from a responding Pasay City rescue team but the inmate showed no signs of life.
Scene of the crime operatives who checked the fatality’s body noted that apart from the ligature marks around his neck, Marcelo also had several bruises and cuts on his face and head.
A fellow inmate, Hernando Aguzman, 19, said in his statement to the police that at around 5 a.m., he saw detainees Yuki Rivera, Randy Lizardo, Benjamin Cruz, and Erick Ilarina beating up Marcelo.
The witness added that after hitting Marcelo repeatedly, the four inmates helped each other in carrying the victim and hanging him near the bathroom.
Aguzman claimed that the four killed Marcelo because he disrespected them inside the prison.
Doria, however, claimed that the statement of Aguzman was still being verified and investigated.
“We will have an autopsy conducted on the victim to determine his cause of death then after we will determine what to do with the case,” the chief of police added.
Asked why the police on duty did not notice the incident, Doria explained that the area near the comfort room was covered with a curtain.
Meanwhile, Marcelo’s mother, Thelma, told investigators on Tuesday that her son had a mental condition and had been previously treated in 2011 at the Philippine Mental Hospital.
She added that his son, who was not in a normal state of mind, would usually have tantrums. Maricar B. Brizuela/RC