DFA exec’s killers meted life terms

Three men accused of killing Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary Alicia Ramos in a robbery more than a year ago were meted life terms yesterday by the Makati Regional Trial Court.

In a 13-page decision, Judge Maria Cristina Cornejo of Makati RTC Branch 147, found alleged mastermind Roberto Lumagui, Joel Ablay and suspect at large Jun Maricar guilty of killing the diplomat at her house on Boyle street in Barangay Palanan, Makati on April 24, 2005.

The court ordered them to suffer a maximum jail term of 40 years for the crime of robbery with homicide.

They were also ordered to pay the victim’s heirs P200,000, which includes the worth of items they took in the heist.

A fourth suspect, Michael Cenil, was acquitted and ordered released after the prosecution failed to prove that he participated in robbing and strangling the 64-year-old Ramos.

Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco, who headed the prosecution team, hailed the court for the decision.

"It shows that crime doesn’t pay. As we have stated in our resolution during the preliminary investigation, the hottest place in hell is reserved for those who bite the hands that feed them," he told The Star.

Lumagui was a former utility man who worked for the Ramos family.

Ramos’ murder shocked the diplomatic community last year after her body was found inside her room at the second floor of her house, where she was hogtied and strangled by the suspects using a towel.

The DFA official suffered lacerations and injuries indicative of a struggle.

Her sister Leticia, 61, was also in the house when Lumagui’s group barged in, but was able to escape and report the incident to the police.

Ramos was a former ambassador to Singapore and New Zealand and was the one who worked to establish a Philippine embassy in Romania in 1990.