MANILA, Philippines?The parents of murder victim Ruby Rose Barrameda-Jimenez have asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development to help them get custody of their daughter?s two children.

The family wants social welfare authorities to intervene in the case, Ruby Rose?s mother, Asuncion Barrameda,told the Inquirer.

At the very least, they want the government to help bring the two children, who have been staying with their father Manuel Jimenez III, to the wake of their mother.

Ruby Rose?s body was recently found stuffed and cemented inside a drum in the sea. She had been missing for two years.

Her father-in-law, Manuel Jimenez Jr., his brother Lope, and four associates have been charged with the murder based on the testimony of suspect-turned-state witness, Manuel Montero.

The Jimenez family has denied the charge.

Asuncion said she no longer knows how Ruby Rose?s two daughters (Marga Ysabel, 9, and Marta Rosia, 2) looks like after not seeing them for two years.

Ruby Rose, a graduate of AB Mass Communication from University of Perpetual Help, is the sister of actress and former beauty queen Rochelle Barrameda. She married Jimenez when she was 19. After losing a custody battle for the children, Ruby Rose disappeared on May 14, 2007.

Battered

According to Asuncion, Ruby Rose had told them she was physically and emotionally battered in the later part of her marriage with Manuel III.

?She had been telling us problems and issues with her husband,? she said.

She had left the Jimenez house after being hurt in a fight. Ruby Rose had mentioned that Manuel III threatened to kill her, said Asuncion.

Custody decision unusual

Meanwhile, women?s party-list representative Liza Maza wants to take a second look at the 2007 decision of a Las Piñas judge denying Ruby Rose Barrameda-Jimenez custody of her young children.

Maza said it was strange that Ruby Rose would be denied custody of children less than seven years old.

The Civil Code states that no mother should be separated from her children below seven years old, unless there was a very compelling reason to rule otherwise, said Maza.

Ruby Rose?s children with her estranged husband were seven years old and four months old at the time of the custody case.

The decision to give Ruby Rose?s young children to her estranged husband was handed down shortly before she went missing.

?By law, automatic custody especially of her four-month old baby at the least should have been given to the mother as the rightful parent-guardian. We find it highly irregular why the judge favored giving custody of the child to Manuel Jimenez III. Had there been any proof that Ruby Rose was an unfit parent? Or is it because of the alleged influence and wealth of the Jimenez family?? the lawmaker said in a statement.

Beaten and assaulted

Before she disappeared, Ruby Rose also sought court protection against her spouse who had reportedly beaten and assaulted her.

But her request was again turned down by the court, noted Maza.

Maza, a leader of the militant women?s group Gabriela, lamented that the Anti Violence Against Women and Children Act, which she co-authored, has failed to stem the abuse of women.