Suspect in Ruby Rose Barrameda slay wants to be state witness

A suspect in the killing of Ruby Rose Barrameda, sister of actress Rochelle Barrameda, has expressed his desire to become a state witness. In a report aired over GMA News TV's News To Go, reporter Dante Perello quoted 40-year-old suspect Robert Ponce as saying that he wants to become a state witness, even as he insisted he was not involved in the crime. Ponce reportedly admitted to only driving the victim from her house in Parañaque to a warehouse in Navotas in 2007, and putting cement in the drum where Ruby Rose body was stuffed in. "Hindi naman po kasi ako kasali talaga sa pag-ano nun... ang ano ko lang po partisipasyon nagmamaneho lang po ako.  Kami [rin] po ang naghahalo ng semento [tapos] nilagyan po ng semento sa drum po," he said in the report. He likewise said he was not among those who threw the drum off the Navotas Fish Port. Ponce was arrested on Wednesday by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Cauayan in Isabela province after one of the alleged killers, Manuel Montero, linked him to the crime. Citing initial information, NBI special task force chief Rolando Argabioso said Ponce went into hiding in Isabela after being implicated. "'Yung aming undercover operatives ay kinuhanan siya ng photographs... ipinakita namin 'yung photo na ito sa ating state witness (Montero) at kinumpirma niya na siya (Ponce) talaga [ang nasa photo]," Argabioso said in the same report. Ruby Rose was reported missing in March 2007. Her body was recovered after Montero surfaced. The body was stuffed in a cemented drum that was thrown off Navotas City.   Aside from Ponce, Montero also linked Barrameda's father-in-law Manuel Jimenez Jr., his brother Lope, Eric Fernandez, Spike Discalzo, and Rudy dela Cruz to the killing. Ponce said the Jimenez family gave him a monthly allowance of P7,000 while he was in hiding. Rochelle Barrameda, for her part, said she has mixed emotions about Ponce's capture and desire to become a state witness. "Hindi ko ho alam ano ba 'yung nararamdaman ko... ang sa amin na lang ano 'yung makabubuti para sa kaso ni Ruby Rose...," she said in the report. Barrameda likewise asked the Court of Appeals to finally decide on the petition of Ruby Rose's husband, Manuel Jimenez III, to review the parricide case against him.  She also questioned the three-year hospital arrest imposed on Ruby Rose's father-in-law. "Si Atty. Jimenez napakasarap ng buhay, ni hindi namin alam kung siya ba talaga yung Atty. Manuel Jimenez na suspect dito kasi nga hindi rin kami allowed na makita siya. Marami kaming information na nakukuha na hindi naman siya yung nasa loob," she said. In February this year, the Court of Appeals stopped the trial after it ruled in favor of the petition by the victim's father-in-law, who sought the inhibition of the judge handling the case. The Jimenez family, meanwhile, has yet to issue a comment about the new development. — LBG, GMA News