RP diplomat slain in burglary

A senior Philippine diplomat was murdered by three men who broke into her home in Makati City at dawn yesterday, police said.

Alicia Ramos, 64, was strangled to death while her sister suffered lacerations in her arms before escaping, said Makati City police chief Senior Superintendent Jovito Gutierrez.

Ramos was an assistant secretary for the Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). She served as ambassador to Singapore from 1993 to 1995 and New Zealand from 1996 to 2002, and was the diplomat who set up the country’s embassy in Romania in 1990.

Her sister, 61-year-old Ma. Leticia Ramos, is also a career diplomat and heads the DFA’s Office on Policy Planning.

Initial investigation showed the motive "seems to be robbery," Gutierrez said.

"My detectives are gathering information at the moment," he said. "Three men wearing hoods entered (Ramos’) home and hog-tied Leticia, who escaped and told police of the crime. Some items are missing and there is disarray."

When policemen arrived at the scene, however, the killers were gone. Ramos’ trussed-up body was found in her room on the second floor with a towel wound tightly around her neck. Police said she suffered lacerations and injuries indicative of a struggle, and had traces of masking tape around her mouth.

Police are said to be looking for the diplomat’s housemaid, who has been missing since Friday. However, another report said Ramos lived with Leticia and another sister and they did not have a maid.

Reports from the Makati police said Ramos was killed at about 5:30 a.m. at her home on 352 Boyle st. in Barangay Palanan.

Investigators said robbery was the obvious motive behind the killing since the suspects took most of the valuables, except for a stereo system.

"We found out that the robbery was pulled off by... three males... that earlier gained entrance to the residence," National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Deputy Director General Avelino Razon told reporters. "Initially, we are looking at robbery, but we will look at other angles."

Makati police homicide chief Senior Inspector Gary Reyes said there was no sign of forced entry. The suspects probably got in through the front gate after it was opened by Leticia, who cleans the surroundings everyday and was preparing to go to church, he said.

The suspected robbers knocked on the door, and when Leticia opened the door, "they pounced on her, gagged and tied her, then they proceeded to the second floor, where they strangled (Ramos)," Razon said.

Investigators said Leticia was able to run out of the house but — instead of asking neighbors for help or going to a police station on Dian street — four to five blocks away — had gone to St. Claire’s Hospital along the same street, where the third Ramos sister is confined.

She was able to ask assistance from the Palanan police station after an hour and 30 minutes, according to Reyes. A policeman said Leticia was at the station at 7:30 a.m., and that had they been apprised earlier police would have been at the Ramos residence in less than a minute.

Police said she was taken to the Ospital ng Makati in a state of shock and was discharged at 1 p.m. the same day.

Ramos’ relatives asked the media not to take photographs of the former ambassador while Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) personnel were investigating the crime scene.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, Gutierrez, and Razon visited the Ramos residence to assure the victim’s relatives that the Makati police will do its best to bring the killers to justice.

DFA spokesman Gilberto Asuque, who was among the officials who rushed to the scene, said the government lost "a dedicated civil servant" with the dead of Ramos. He condemned the violence and called on police to swiftly arrest the suspects.

President Arroyo, meanwhile, ordered the creation of a special police task force to solve the case, Razon said.

She called Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Arturo Lomibao "to exert all effort to solve the robbery case and not to leave any stone unturned in the investigation of this case," he said.

Razon said the task force will be headed by Gutierrez, who will have at his disposal the NCRPO’s Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division, the Southern Police district’s SOCO investigators, the MPD’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group south sector.

"There is no timetable for the task force to solve the case but they must do it as soon as possible," Razon said.

Lomibao ordered a crackdown on the three suspects, believed to be members of the notorious Akyat-Bahay Gang, and an intensified crime prevention patrol with volunteers from the community, particularly from evening to dawn.

‘Kind Mother’

Several DFA employees, including Undersecretary Franklin Ebdalin, rushed to the Ramos residence and were unable to stop from crying.

They said Ramos was a very kind "mother," adding that they still could not believe she would suffer such a tragic death at the hands of heartless robbers.

Ambassador Jose Abeto Zaide, the DFA’s Assistant Secretary for Protocol, said Ramos is a second-generation diplomat who joined the DFA after topping the Foreign Service Officer examinations in 1973.

Ramos held a degree in business administration from the University of Washington in Seattle. She was fluent in Spanish, French and Italian, according to the DFA.

She was "a quiet and highly competent diplomat, very accomplished and well-respected by her peers," Zaide said.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo condemned the crime and said Ramos was a "dedicated public servant" and "a civil servant in whom I have reposed my trust and confidence in assisting the department in the promotion of the national interest and Philippine foreign policy in the international arena."

He also wished for the speedy recovery of Ramos’ sister, Leticia.

Sen. Richard Gordon called on the public to "strengthen community safety by cooperating with law enforcers through immediate and transparent reporting."

Ramos was the Philippine ambassador to Singapore during the controversial trial of domestic helper Flor Contemplacion. She was among those who tried to convince the Singapore government not to impose the death penalty against the 42-year-old housewife who was accused of two murders 10 years ago.

Contemplacion, wearing a white dress, was hanged in the morning of March 17, 1995 for the alleged killing of 34-year-old domestic helper Delia Maga and her four-year-old Singaporean ward, Nicholas, who was drowned in a red plastic pail.

The case was so controversial that then President Fidel Ramos sacked the previous ambassador to Singapore, Francisco Benedicto, and eventually suspended Ramos.

Then DFA secretary Roberto Romulo resigned, taking responsibility for what Filipinos saw as a failure to safeguard Contemplacion’s life, rights and interests.

His resignation was soon followed by that of then labor secretary Nieves Confesor.

Ramos was first designated to head the DFA personnel division’s staff development section and as principal assistant of the administration office.

She was later transferred to the office of political affairs as principal assistant and chief of the division on Asia and Oceanic affairs. In this capacity, she became part of Philippine delegations to various meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and attended the first ASEAN summit, held in Bali, Indonesia in 1976.

Ramos was posted to Beijing, China in 1976 as vice consul, and was subsequently promoted to consul. In 1980, she was transferred to the Philippine embassy in Rome.

Upon returning to the Philippines in July 1985, Ramos was designated executive director in the office of European affairs for seven months. She was subsequently designated special assistant to her sister’s namesake, then undersecretary Leticia Ramos-Shahani, until February 1987. For the next three years, she held various positions in the DFA. — With Non Alquitran, Paolo Romero, Jose Rodel Clapano, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Christina Mendez, AFP, AP