DOJ wants govt doctor to check condition of suspect in Ruby Rose Barrameda slay case

The Department of Justice (DOJ) will ask the Supreme Court to send a doctor to check the health condition of a suspect in the killing of Ruby Rose Barrameda who is currently under hospital arrest.

Ruby Rose, the sister of former beauty queen Rochelle Barrameda, went missing in March 2007 and was found dead in June 2010.

De Lima said the DOJ will seek the SC's intervention on the matter, following a request from the Barrameda family to determine whether suspect Manuel Jimenez Jr's continued confinement at the Philppine Heart Center is justified.

"I'm thinking of seeking the intervention of the Supreme Court in that matter. I think the SC can act on that. We will file a formal request with the Supreme Court to the chief justice to direct a government doctor to check the real health condition of Jimenez," she said.

De Lima quoted the Barramedas as saying that nobody knows what Jimenez's real situation is.

"Ang suspetiya pa nga nila, baka labas pasok siya hospital," she added.

Another suspect in the case, Manuel Montero, the one who pointed authorities to the location of Barrameda’s body, had earlier requested to become a witness. He was also the one who positively identified another suspect, Robert Ponce, based on photographs secretly taken by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) of Ponce in his Isabela home.

It was also Montero who linked Jimenez Jr., his brother Lope and son Manuel III to the killing. Manuel III is the former husband of Ruby Rose.

Montero later recanted his statements and has been missing ever since. — Mark Merueñas/KBK, GMA News