Employer accused of abusing housemaid now out on bail

MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City court has allowed one of the Marzan couple accused of abusing their former housemaid to post bail.

In a text message to The STAR, defense counsel Joel Ferrer confirmed that Reynold Marzan is now out of jail after posting the P150,000 bail set by the court handling the serious illegal detention case filed by Bonita Baran.

In a 17-page decision, Judge Germano Francisco Legaspi of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 77 granted the petition of Marzan but denied the bail motion of his wife Annaliza.

“Although there is sufficient evidence on record to warrant the detention of Annaliza pending trial, the same cannot be said with regard to Reynold,” the decision said.

“When she was asked to identify the person who did not allow her to go out and detained her, Baran answered that it is only Annaliza. She continued her testimony by stating that only Annaliza dragged and detained her in the storage room,” it added.

The judge said that the prosecution failed to show evidence that the couple conspired to detain their former housemaid.

“It appears that the participation of Reynold in the detention of Baran is limited to his act of tolerating the actions of his wife,” the decision said, noting the testimony of the complainant that Reynold was in the office whenever she was locked inside the comfort room.

“For Baran, Reynold is liable for serious illegal detention because he ignored the misdeed of his wife. However, our legal system does not fix the criminal responsibility of a person on the basis of his or her indifference,” it added.

“Reynold’s mere silence cannot lead to the conclusion that he had cooperated in the commission of the crime by Annaliza,” it said.

The court initially set a P300,000 bail for the temporary freedom of Reynold but the defense filed a motion asking the court to reduce it.

“The public prosecutor did not file an objection to the motion to reduce the bail,” Ferrer said.

On the other hand, the judge said that the petition for bail of Annaliza was denied because the defense failed to discredit the testimony of Baran.

“The court finds no reason to doubt the credibility of Baran. She gave her testimony in a candid and forward manner. She remained consistent all throughout her testimony,” said the decision.

“Annaliza was able to deprive Baran of her liberty by threatening her. Annaliza said that if Baran leaves the storage room, she would hurt her and detain her,” it added.

It added that the threats of Annaliza prevented Baran from escaping.

“Baran was not free to go out of the house and escape from her detention even if Annaliza is not in the house because Annaliza locked the door whenever she leaves the house. Baran does not have a key to the double lock of the door,” said the decision.

During his testimony, Reynold said Baran was free to leave the house as the main door of their house does not have a double lock. He also testified that all the locks on their main door were installed in 2004 or 2005.

But the court did not believe the statement of Reynold, saying that the single deadbolt lock on door could not have been installed in 2004 or 2005 as it did not have scratches during the ocular inspection.

“The part of the deadbolt lock on the exterior of the main house has not even faded, notwithstanding its exposure to the elements for almost eight or seven years,” it added.

Ferrer said that “they are weighing options whether to seek reconsideration from the court regarding the denial of bail for Annaliza or just proceed with the speedy trial.”

“Whatever it is, we trust that the court will acquit both in the end,” he added.