Althea Altamirano admitted that she wanted to teach fellow model Julie Ann Rodelas “a lesson” for talking behind her back and spreading rumors about her having two kids.
But she said she never knew that her boyfriend would take this to the extreme by allegedly arranging Rodelas’ death.
“Pumayag lang po ako na turuan lang ng leksyon. Di ko akalain na papatayin (I only agreed to teach her a lesson. I never thought she would be killed),” a sobbing Althea, 23, told reporters on Saturday night following her arrest in Pampanga province.
She was captured together with her boyfriend, Fernando Quiambao Jr., 32, by the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.
In another interview Sunday morning, Althea said she thought the lesson suggested by Quiambo would only mean beating up Rodelas until she is “crippled.”
“Hindi ko naman po alam na gagahasain at papatayan siya (I never thought she would be raped and killed),” she said, practically wailing, shortly before the start of a press conference announcing the arrests.
The couple’s arrest came four days after Rodelas, a 20-year-old part-time model and hotel and restaurant management student, was shot dead and pushed out of a black Mitsubishi Montero on 18th Avenue in Murphy, Cubao, Quezon City, before dawn on
Nov. 6.
Altamirano said the Montero was the same vehicle used when the victim was abducted near World Trade Center in Pasay City on Nov. 6 at
12:30 a.m.—an incident she witnessed and later reported to the police before going into hiding with Quiambao.
According to her, she earlier told her boyfriend that Rodelas had been spreading rumors about her. Quiambao then spoke something about teaching Rodelas a lesson.
“Sabi n’ya magaling daw po siya sa ganun, ginagawa daw n’ya na walang bulilyaso dati. Kaya po pumayag ako (He said he’s good at this and that he
has done it before without a glitch. That’s why I agreed),” the woman said, referring to her boyfriend.
Though Altamirano mentioned rape, the QCPD at press time has yet to see the autopsy and medico-legal reports confirming this.
Rodelas’ mother Luz, who confronted Altamirano, said the latter indeed has two kids. “It’s not just a rumor,” she said.
The mother of six said her “Jaja” (Rodelas’ nickname) was so bent on finishing her studies at Arellano University that she took a modelling job to earn extra. Rodelas had been forced to skip schooling three times as the family struggled with finances, she added.
“I don’t even let Jaja wash the dishes, yet they shot her just like that,” a seething Luz told reporters after meeting the suspect. ‘’They’re animals! I could not forgive her (Altamirano) even in the afterlife.”
Police said that before the abduction, Rodelas and Altamirano saw a movie at SM Mall of Asia in Pasay and took a cab to Macapagal Boulevard to meet a friend.
Unknown to the victim, Althea had already texted their whereabouts to Quiambao, setting the latter’s plan into motion. Two men then grabbed Rodelas, leaving Althea behind.
Altamirano said she was still shocked by the commotion and could not even recall what the abductors wore.
“I wanted to drag her back. I’m the reason why she was taken,” she said.
She said she was intent on keeping her silence but a Pasay police team saw her crying on the road. She then reported the abduction—disobeying her boyfriend’s instructions—but spoke nothing about the plot behind it, until their arrest on Saturday.
The next day at the QCPD, all she had was a belated apology: “Jaja, sorry. I didn’t know you’ll be killed. I know that no matter how many times I say ‘sorry’, it’s all my fault.”