Murder raps for Ruby Rose's father-in-law, 5 others - DOJ

The Department of Justice on Monday said it would file murder charges against six men linked to the killing of Ruby Rose Barrameda-Jimenez, including her father-in-law, Manuel Jimenez Jr. But an investigating panel recommended the dismissal of the complaint against her husband, Manuel Jimenez III, from whom Ruby Rose was estranged. The couple was said to be engaged in a bitter custody battle for their two young daughters when she disappeared. After Ruby Rose was killed, her body was placed in a cement-sealed steel container which was thrown into the sea off Navotas Fish Port, where the Jimenezes own property. The body might never have been found if a man claiming to be an accomplice to the crime had not told authorities of the exact location of the body. After finding probable cause to indict them, the DOJ panel listed the following on its charge sheet: Ruby Rose’s father-in-law, Manuel Jimenez Jr., his brother Lope Jimenez, Manuel Montero, Eric Fernandez, Lennard Descalso, and Robert Ponce. Aside from Ruby Rose’s estranged husband, Manuel, the panel recommended the dismissal of the complaint against a Rudy dela Cruz, for lack of evidence. The case would be lodged before the Navotas Regional Trial Court. Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said the investigating panel based its recommendation on the affidavit submitted by eye witness Manuel Montero, who came out in the open last June to tell the Barrameda family the location of Ruby Rose’s body. Montero alleged that his employer, Lope Jimenez, Ruby Rose's uncle, ordered him and the other suspects to carry out Ruby Rose's killing because she supposedly brought shame to the Jimenez family. In its resolution, panel chair Theodore Villanueva said Montero’s "positive" identification of Manuel (Jr.) and Lope Jimenez as masterminds and the other respondents Fernandez, Descalso and Ponce were sufficient to establish that they had a hand in the crime. "The denials made by respondents deserve little consideration at this point. The positive identification made by Montero must be upheld. The matters he raised in his pleadings are evidentiary in nature and are more properly threshed out in a full-blown trial where the parties are given all the opportunity to present evidence, scientific or otherwise, in support of their cause of action or defense," the DOJ panel said. Montero will remain as an accused until the court grants his motion to be discharged as one of the suspects and be allowed to turn state witness.

'Mixed feelings' The DOJ panel’s recommendation came as a surprise to the Jimenez family, according to their legal counsel, Mario Aguinaldo. "Si Mr. Jimenez (Jr.) was shocked because he was really not involved in the crime. But his son (Jimenez III, also known as Third) felt vindicated. So the family really has mixed emotions right now," Aguinaldo told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. He added that Jimenez Jr. is prepared to face the case in court and debunk Montero’s allegations. Aguinaldo also said that "if Montero was able to lie about Third, he could also lie about everybody." Devanadera said the DOJ would also ask the court to discharge Montero from the list of the accused so he could be a state witness. Last August 17, Devanadera ordered the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to extend the validity of the order to place on its watch list the suspects in the crime. That same day, the DOJ panel also concluded its investigation into Ruby Rose’s killing after the prosecutors denied the motion of the defense counsels to examine the clothes on the cadaver believed to be that of the victim. In earlier hearings, private forensic experts tapped by the Jimenez family said the decomposing body of the woman could not be conclusively identified as Ruby Rose as they questioned the process observed by the police in identifying the corpse. - GMANews.TV