The victim’s father, Robert, sister Rochelle, and mother, Asuncion. FILE PHOTO
The father of Ruby Rose Barrameda on Thursday urged Interior Secretary Mar Roxas to form a team to track down Manuel Montero, the accused-turned-star witness who disappeared after recanting his previous testimonies linking the victim’s husband and relatives to her murder.
Robert Barrameda made the appeal after what he said was the “continued failure” of a tracking team composed of members of the National Capital Region Police Office and the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program to find Montero who has not been heard from or seen for over three months.
Montero left in March the Regional Police Intelligence Operations unit at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City which had served as his safe house since 2010.
He later recanted his statements implicating Ruby Rose’s father-in-law Manuel Jimenez Jr., uncle-in-law Lope and estranged husband Manuel Jimenez III, as well as several others, in her killing.
Ruby Rose, whose body was found encased in cement and sealed inside a steel drum in 2009, was locked in a custody battle for their children with her husband at the time she went missing in 2007.
“It has been so long but nothing’s happening,” the elder Barrameda said, adding that a Department of Interior and Local Government team would be more “impartial.”
Although Montero had recanted, Robert said he wanted him to “face the music” and clarify certain matters “face-to-face.”
This includes, among others, clarifying whether or not he was giving up his status as a state witness. “He would then be one of the accused,” he added.
Originally posted at 04:57 pm | Thursday, June 20, 2013