Court clears model in Julie Ann Rodelas slay, but boyfriend found guilty

Julie Ann Rodelas —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

A Quezon City Court on Friday acquitted model Althea Altamirano of conspiring to murder her friend and fellow model Julie Ann Rodelas in November 2012.

But Judge Caridad Lutero of Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 223 convicted Altamirano’s boyfriend Fernando Quiambao Jr. of abducting Rodelas and having her shot dead.

In a 63-page decision, Lutero ordered that Altamirano be released from the Quezon City female dormitory, but Atamirano would still have to pay P100,000 in moral damages.

Almirano was with Rodelas when the latter was abducted and killed in 2012 in Pasay City and later dumped in Quezon City.

Lutero found Quiambao guilty of conspiring to kill Rodelas, then a 20-year-old coed model, and was sentenced to reclusion perpetua, or life imprisonment.

Quiambao was also ordered to pay the family of Rodelas a total of P483,810 in actual, civil, moral and exemplary damages.

But Arsenio Evangelista Jr., president of Volunteers against Crime and Corruption (VACC), disagreed with the verdict.

‘Conspiracy theory’

“Under the conspiracy theory, the act of one is the act of all. It was clear that Altamirano was the one who planned the murder. She instigated and provoked her boyfriend, Quiambao … to commit murder,” he told the Inquirer.

VACC monitored the 12-year-old case since murder charges were filed against Altamirano, Quiambao and the third accused, Jaymar Waradji, who later became a state witness.

In the wee hours of Nov. 6, 2012, Rodelas and Altamirano were walking along Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard when two men suddenly forced Rodelas into a sport utility vehicle.

Pasay City cops later saw Altamirano, who was left on the road in utter shock, and brought her to a police station.

Rodelas’ body, which bore gunshot wounds, was later dumped in Cubao, Quezon City.

The police later traced Quiambao’s participation in the crime through the help of a CCTV footage at McDonald’s UN Avenue in Manila, receipt for the meal was recovered from Rodela’s left hand at the crime scene.

Quiambao and Altamirano were arrested in Pampanga. The police also found the vehicle used in the abduction and in transporting the body.

In statements she made to the media following her arrest in 2012, Altamirano admitted she wanted to “teach [Rodelas] a lesson” for spreading rumors that Altamirano already had two children.

Altamirano said she asked Quiambao to do something about her issue with Rodelas, but claimed that she never thought that it would lead to her boyfriend killing Rodelas.

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She added her boyfriend contracted people to do the job, but did not know any of them.

In its ruling, the Quezon City RTC stressed the prosecution did not present “any evidence to show that [Altamirano] was aware of her co-accused’s plan to kill Rodelas, as even Waradji failed to mention her presence or involvement after the abduction.”

In Quiambao’s case, the court noted, “it appears that Quiambao was the one calling the shots and he decided to kill Rodelas after the latter recognized him.”

The court also cited Waradji’s testimony that pinned Quiambao as the one who was with Rodelas hours before her death. INQ