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MANILA, Philippines - The couple accused of abusing their housemaid has been ordered detained at the Quezon City Jail after a judge on Thursday denied their motion to be detained at the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila.
Reynold and Analiza Marzan were escorted by personnel from the office of the Senate sergeant-at-arms.
Analiza was taken to the QCJ’s female dormitory at Camp Karingal, Barangay Sikatuna, at around 3 p.m. Reynold was seen massaging her back as if to console her as she was led inside the detention facility.
Reynold then left around 3:50 p.m. for the QCJ building for male inmates in Barangay Kamuning.
The Marzans' lawyer, Joel Ferrer, had earlier asked Judge Germano Francisco Legaspi of Regional Trial Court Branch 77 to commit them to the NBI, citing Analiza’s reported kidney ailment and the convenience it would give the Marzan children when they visit their parents.
But assistant city prosecutor Ulrich Badiola objected to the motion, saying there were no medical records to support the Marzans’ request.
Legaspi ruled that he saw no reason to deviate from the law, which requires the detention of persons awaiting trial in a city or municipal jail.
"Any perceived inconvenience the (Marzan) children might suffer in visiting their parents at different detention cells is so insignificant...to warrant the detention of both accused at the NBI. Other than counsel’s manifestation in open court, accused-movants did not present during the hearing evidence which would establish allegation that accused Annaliza has a kidney ailment. Movants failed to substantiate their allegations with a medical certificate and the testimony of a qualified physician to prove the existence Annaliza’s medical condition," Legaspi ruled.
The judge will try the illegal detention charges filed against the Marzans by their former maid Bonita Baran, who says their abuse had scarred her for life, and left her completely blind in one eye. A forensics expert told the Senate on Wednesday that Baran's other eye is also unable to see, other than to make out some light and shadow.
The couple surrendered to the NBI Monday, a week after the court issued a hold departure order and sustained the issuance of arrest warrants against them.
The NBI then turned over the Marzans to the Senate on Wednesday for an investigation into the alleged abuses.
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