Suspects in Alicia Ramos slay case plead ‘not guilty’

Three of the four suspects tagged in the killing of Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Alicia Ramos three months ago pleaded "not guilty" during the arraignment of the case at the Makati City Regional Trial Court yesterday.

Presented for the first time in court were Roberto Lumagui, the principal suspect in the slay, and his alleged cohorts Joel Ablay and Michael Cenil.

They maintained it was not their intention to kill the 61-year-old Ramos, saying they were only hired to frighten her.

Her death was an accident and they did not steal anything from the Ramos residence, the ssupects pointed out.

The fourth suspect, identified only as Jun Marica, remains at large and will be tried in absentia.

Judge Ma. Cristina Cornejo, of Branch 147, scheduled the pre-trail conference for the criminal case next Tuesday, Aug. 9.

Yesterday’s arraignment marks the beginning of a long court battle, observers said.

State prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco and his team will be handling the case in an effort to have those responsible for the brutal killing convicted.

Lumagui and his cohorts are accused of killing Ramos inside her house in Barangay Palanan, Makati City on April 24, 2005.

The victim’s sisters, Leticia and Esther, were initially tagged as possible suspects. The latter was allegedly the mastermind.

However, the DOJ later cleared the two of any involvement in the killing after a thorough investigation of the case and looking into Lumagui‘s claim that they were only hired to frighten the victim without killing her.

After going over the twists and turns of the case, Velasco issued a three-page resolution containing the results of their probe, which revealed that Lumagui and his companions acted on their own.

The original complaint of murder and theft against the suspects were reduced to robbery with homicide while Lumagui’s claims that Esther, who has a history of problems, ordered him to "scare" Alicia into releasing her pension money was dismissed as an effort to point the accusing finger at someone else in order to escape responsibility.

Velasco said the principal suspect would stand to gain more with Alicia’s death since his P100,000 debt would have been automatically written off.

Leticia, although never summoned as a respondent, was also cleared by the DOJ after she detailed how she called for help from neighbors and police after escaping from the suspects. – Michael Punongbayan