Barramedas to sue 5 cops over missing star witness

MANILA, Philippines—The family of Ruby Rose Barrameda will file charges against two high-ranking police officials and three others tasked to guard an accused-turned-state witness who disappeared right after he recanted his statements linking the victim’s husband and relatives to her murder.

Robert, Barrameda’s father, told the Inquirer in a recent phone interview that they would file a case in the Ombudsman against Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, former National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director before his promotion as chief directorial staff of the Philippine National Police in July 2013; and Supt. Ronald Lee, then deputy official of the NCRPO Regional Police Intelligence Operations Unit (RPIOU).

Also to be charged are three other policemen who were on duty when star witness Manuel Montero, who told the police where Ruby Rose’s body could be found and then linked her husband and father-in-law to her killing, left the RPIOU office at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City in March 2013.

Montero later told a Malabon court that he was retracting all his statements implicating Barrameda’s father-in-law Manuel Jimenez Jr., husband Manuel Jimenez III, uncle-in-law Lope Jimenez and several others in her death. According to him, his statements were full of lies and he no longer wished to be a state witness. He has not been heard from or seen since then.

Robert said their lawyers were still determining the case to be filed against the policemen although it would most likely be gross negligence.

Barrameda, whose body was found encased in cement and sealed inside a steel drum in 2009, was locked in a court battle with Jimenez III for the custody of their children at the time she went missing in 2007.

According to Robert, footage taken by a closed-circuit television camera at Camp Bagong Diwa showed Montero freely leaving the RPIOU.

“They [the five police officers] were the ones guarding him but they were also the ones who let him out,” he said, adding that he had heard that the accused’s camp had offered a P10-million prize for Montero’s head.

He pointed out that had the policemen concerned done their duty to keep Montero in their custody, he would probably not have not recanted his statements.

Robert noted that although it has nearly been a year since a task force from the RPIOU was assigned to look for the state witness, Montero has yet to be found.