4 Ramos murder suspects face raps

Authorities are set to file murder charges either today or tomorrow against four suspects allegedly behind the brutal murder of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Alicia Ramos inside her Makati City residence last month.

One of the suspects has been arrested, but three — including the alleged mastermind — are still at large, according to a source within "Task Force Alicia," which has pooled personnel from various law enforcement units to bring Ramos’ killers to justice.

"We have already identified them all," the insider said.

He claimed that operations are now underway to catch the three suspects still at large. One of the suspects was identified only as "Obet," reportedly the leader of the group.

"Once charges are filed (before the Makati City court) and a warrant of arrest is issued, then the next step would be for us to launch massive manhunt operations against Obet and his two remaining cohorts," the source said.

For now, he said police are conducting house-to-house searches in areas where Obet is reportedly hiding, as well as sustained monitoring of intelligence reports. They failed to catch Obet during a recent sweep of Makati City and neighboring areas.

"We are closing in on him," the source said, adding that Obet has no option left but to surrender.

The task force learned that Obet was Ramos’ former neighbor, an ex-convict who had done repair work on the victim’s house several months ago.

Another source, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed Obet was the key planner of the crime, taking advantage of Ramos’ trust in him.

"Ramos trusted him and he even volunteered and contracted to raise the height of the fence surrounding the victim’s residence so robbers couldn’t get in," the source said.

The source added that while the task force’s investigators are still looking at robbery as the motive behind the crime, they are not ruling out other motives in Ramos’ murder.

On Thursday evening, policemen from the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police (PNP) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group arrested a suspect, identified only as "Dodong," during a raid at his hiding place in Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Rizal.

Dodong has confessed to his role in the slaying of Ramos, 64, inside the victim’s home in Barangay Palanan, Makati City on April 24.

Dodong’s fingerprints will be cross-matched with the three sets of fingerprints lifted from the crime scene by the PNP Crime Laboratory.

Probers said Ramos’ two cellular phones, her Rolex watch and gifts and souvenirs she received from foreign dignitaries were missing. According to another report, her black bag was among the items allegedly taken by the suspects.

Task force officials also said they are considering revenge as a possible motive. Dodong said Obet hired him and two others to do some work on the Ramos residence weeks before the crime.

Dodong said Ramos and her sister Leticia, 61, had always berated them. "Masungit daw ‘yong magkapatid dahil konting mali lang, pinapagalitan na sila (The sisters were ill-tempered, and would scold them for one little mistake)," a task force official said.

Obet had hatched the plan to rob the Ramos sisters, according to Dodong. However, it is not yet clear whether killing Ramos was part of the plan. Dodong did not indicate how much of the loot was supposed to go to him.

Ramos was found on top of her bed, her mouth sealed with strips of packing tape. Her face had been covered with a scarf and a white towel was tied loosely around her neck.

Chief Superintendent Ernesto Belen, who heads the PNP Crime Laboratory, said Ramos died of suffocation, not strangulation as reported earlier.

Belen said he received two sets of fingerprints from the task force last Friday but they failed to match those recovered at the crime scene.

Scene of the Crime Operations personnel from the Southern Police District recovered two sets of fingerprints from a writing pad on top of a table inside Ramos’ room and another fingerprint was recovered from the packing tape used to bind Ramos’ mouth.

Belen said they are still analyzing the saliva sample from a cigarette butt and bloodstains found on a long-sleeved t-shirt recovered from the crime scene.

Dodong has been cooperating with police since Friday, "leading us to areas where he, Obet, and their two companions were spending time in the past but our operations proved futile," a task force official said.

Meanwhile, Leticia — the primary witness in the case — moved out of the Ramos residence and is currently staying at a relative’s house.

She and another sister, who remains confined at St. Claire’s Hospital, are Ramos’ closest relatives since all three sisters are unmarried.

STAR reporters paid the Ramos residence a visit yesterday and were told that Leticia was not home and that her new address is being kept confidential. Drivers employed by the Department of Foreign Affairs drive her from her temporary residence to work and back, according to sources.

Senior Inspector Gary Reyes, Makati police homicide section chief, said earlier that Leticia had to be moved to a temporary residence for her protection.

Earlier reports said the suspects had barged into the Ramos residence at dawn. They hogtied and blindfolded Leticia, who managed to escape after the men proceeded to her sister’s second-floor bedroom.

She then went to St. Claire’s Hospital and showed up at a nearby police station an hour and 30 minutes after the suspects entered their house.

Leticia initially refused to speak with investigators, but finally issued a statement after her sister was buried on April 28. She also gave the police a list of items allegedly taken by the suspects. — Jaime Laude, Non Alquitran and Michael Punongbayan