Maid who poisons, robs employers bolts jail

MANILA, Philippines - A woman who is facing trial for poisoning and robbing Filipino-Chinese families escaped from the Manila City Jail (MCJ) Friday night.

Anamie Livrando, 30, reportedly escaped from the MCJ’s female detention facility by scaling the roof of the Records Office at the back of the jail compound. “We found her slippers at the edge of the roof where she could have jumped to a row of squatters’ shanties at the back of the jail facility,” said female jail warden Superintendent Amelia Rayandayan.

Two teams of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) personnel were deployed to track down the escapee, she added.

According to Rayandayan, Livrando, who has been detained at the MCJ since last September, requested jail guards to bring her out of her cell for fresh air at past 9 p.m. since she was having difficulty breathing. She was accompanied by another inmate. The inmate momentarily left, but when she returned Livrando was already gone.

“I am now checking on the security lapses of the guards on duty, while they are restricted at the jail facility,” Rayandayan said. She said she has distributed Livrando’s photos in barangays near the MCJ and police stations.

Livrando was arrested by the Manila police at her Quezon City residence last August following a series of robbery incidents involving Filipino-Chinese households. Livrando reportedly applied as a housemaid to poison and rob her employers.

The victims claimed Livrando mixes a type of pesticide in the food or drinks of her employers and their other housemaids. She would rob her victims while they are in the hospital, police said.       

Livrando’s escape resulted in the preventive suspension of Rayandayan and several jail guards who were on duty at that time, pending the results of investigation, said BJMP National Capital Region director Chief Superintendent Serafin Barreto, who inspected the jail facility yesterday after hearing of the escape. The guards will also undergo lie detector tests, Barreto added.

“I am open to any investigation. In fact I plan to go on leave while the probe is ongoing,” Rayandayan said.