Ruby Rose case: DOJ alerted to suspect’s 4-yr hospital stay

RUBY Rose Barrameda

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Tuesday said she would seek the Supreme Court’s help in getting a government doctor to determine the real health condition of one of the suspects in the Ruby Rose Barrameda murder case who has been in the hospital for more than four years.

This was after Barrameda’s sister, actress Rochelle Barrameda, appealed to De Lima to fast-track the resolution of the case.

The victim’s family also said they wanted to find out the true state of health of one of the accused, Ruby Rose’s father-in-law Manuel Jimenez Jr., who has been confined at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City since September 2009 based on a court order.

According to De Lima, there has been no development in the murder case because the Jimenez camp has asked for the judge to inhibit himself from the case.

“So I’m thinking of seeking the intervention of the Supreme Court … We will file a formal request with the Supreme Court … to direct a government doctor to check the real health condition [of Jimenez] because [the Barramedas think] that his continued confinement at the Heart Center is not justified,” the justice secretary told reporters after her meeting with Rochelle Barrameda at the Department of Justice.

She acknowledged that Jimenez should be in a detention facility, noting that no one has access to or knowledge about his real condition. “They [Barramedas] suspect that probably, he has been going in and out of the hospital,” De Lima said.

Ruby Rose went missing in 2007 at a time she was battling her husband, Manuel Jimenez III, for the custody of their two daughters.

In 2009, her body was found inside a steel drum thrown into the waters off Navotas City after its location was tipped off to the police by Manuel Montero, another accused who admitted involvement in her killing.