Ruby Rose kin seek review of murder suspect's acquittal

MANILA, Philippines - The family of Ruby Rose Barrameda-Jimenez who suffered a mafia-style execution, is set to file a motion for reconsideration after one of the accused in the case, the victim’s father-in-law, was cleared by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Actress Rochelle Barrameda, the victim’s elder sister, said they are saddened by the DOJ resolution that ordered the removal of shipping magnate Lope Jimenez from the list of the accused in the murder case.

“We are not really happy with Secretary Agnes Devanadera’s order especially that Ruby Rose’s death anniversary will be commemorated tomorrow (Sunday),” Barrameda said.

She added that “even if Third (Manuel Jimenez III, the victim’s estranged husband) has not been excluded in the charge sheet, it is unfortunate that Lope was cleared. We have a strong case and strong evidence against Lope.”

Barrameda expressed hopes that the new DOJ secretary will be able to carefully review the case they filed.

“If Lope will be able to get away with this, there will be no justice even to his many other victims in other cases,” she added.

In a 12-page resolution, Devanadera granted the appeal of Jimenez of the department’s resolution indicting him, his brother and four others in August last year and ordered his removal from the list of accused in the murder case already pending in the Navotas Regional Trial Court (RTC).

Upon review, Devanadera overturned the findings of the investigating fiscals that found ample evidence to link Jimenez, owner of Navotas-based Buena Surte Jimenez Fishing and Trading Co. to the gruesome murder.

Ruby Rose was reportedly strangled, her body placed inside a drum, and cement was later poured into it. The drum was put into a steel box before it was loaded into a ship with the use of a forklift. Afterwards the steel case was submerged into the seawaters of Navotas.

The container was later fished out of the sea following a confession made by witness Manuel Montero in 2009. When opened, the steel case revealed the victim’s decomposing body.

Ruby Rose and her husband had been separated since December 2006. She was seeking custody of her two children at the time she disappeared.