6 yrs after her disappearance, Ruby Rose kin, supporters press CA to allow resumption of murder case

More than six years after Ruby Rose Barrameda went missing and four years after she was found dead and stuffed inside a cemented drum, her family and friends continued pressing the Court of Appeals to allow the murder case against her supposed killers, including her husband and father-in-law, to continue.

 

Barrameda's family and friends trooped to the CA on Thursday and held a prayer rally led by Father Robert Reyes for her birthday. She would have turned 33 years old on Wednesday.

 

"The case is not moving and not progressing. Ruby Rose has already been the victim. Her family should not be victimized as well because the case has been moving at a snail's pace. Kaya we are asking the CA justices na i-resolve na ang mga pending motions," Reyes told GMA News Online.

 

Barrameda, sister of former beauty queen and actress Rochelle Barrameda, was reported missing in March 2007. Her body was found two years later stuffed inside a cemented drum dropped in the waters off Navotas City.

 

In February 2012, the Court of Appeals stopped the trial after it ruled in favor of the petition by Manuel Jimenez Jr., the victim's father-in-law, who sought the inhibition of the judge handling the case.

 

Another suspect, Manuel Montero, the one who pointed authorities to the location of Barrameda’s body in 2009, had earlier requested to be turned into a witness. He was also the one who positively identified another suspect, Robert Ponce, based on photographs secretly taken by National Bureau of Investigation agents of Ponce in his Isabela home. Ponce was later arrested.

 

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

 

Jimenez Jr. was earlier placed under hospital arrest at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City, but the Barrameda family had said they were not even sure if the suspect remains inside the hospital facility.

 

Reyes lamented that until now, Jimenez remains in hospital arrest. "Kapag hindi natin siya sinubaybayan, baka malaman-laman na lang natin wala na siya doon."

 

"We can't help but have suspicions that people inside air conditioned halls of the Court of Appeals are being influenced," Reyes added. "It's time to reform the system, and give Ruby Rose that justice she deserves."

 

Reyes also said the Barramedas feel bad that Montero had already recanted his statements and had since gone missing.

 

"So after, where does this go after this? Habang tumatagal, isa-isang nawawala ang mga witnesses," Reyes said.

 

During Thursday's prayer rally, college students from the Perpetual Help College in Las Piñas, of which the Barrameda sisters were alumni, brought drums with them, which they beat as they chanted.

 

"Nakakatuwa ang mga suporta ng mga estudyante. Nag-drums sila para kalampagin ang mga justices. Eh kahit papaano, may lumabas na mga empleyado ng CA at sana iparating nila sa mga boss nila ang mga panawagan namin," Reyes said.

 

Apart from Reyes, the Barramedas, students and faculty of the Perpetual Help College-Las Piñas, members of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption were also among those who participated in the prayer rally. —KG, GMA News