SC removes lawyer from gov’t service for misconduct in Ruby Barrameda case records

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has perpetually disqualified for government service a lawyer who was discovered with misplaced records related to the Ruby Rose Barrameda murder case within his secured cabinet in Malacañang.

In a 23-page decision penned by SC Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen promulgated on June 27, 2023, the high court affirmed the dismissal of Jerik Roderick Jacoba, who was working at the former Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs due to charges of grave misconduct and serious dishonesty.

“Jerik Roderick V. Jacoba is hereby found guilty of grave misconduct and serious dishonesty and the penalty of dismissal from government service with the accessory penalties of forfeiture of all retirement benefits (except terminal leave benefits and personal contributions to the GSIS, if any); perpetual disqualification from reemployment in the government service; cancellation of civil service eligibility; and bar from taking the civil service examinations are imposed on him,” the resolution read.

In 2010, the Barameda case was forwarded to the Office of the President (OP) after the Department of Justice indicted Barrameda’s husband, Manuel Jimenez III, for the crime of parricide.

Jimenez appealed the DOJ decision, prompting the transfer of case records to the Legal Affairs Office of the OP.

It could be recalled that the body of Barrameda was found covered in hardened concrete inside a steel drum in Navotas City in 2009.

The suspects in the murder case, Jimenez and his father, were acquitted by the Malabon Regional Trial Court in October 2019. 

The case before the high court stemmed from the discovery that Jacoba was  in possession of the “lost” case records in connection with the murder case of Barrameda. 

In February 2012, the OP inquired about the status of the Jimenez appeal. However, the case records could not be found.

After conducting an investigation, the missing records, along with the preliminary draft, were discovered within a secured filing cabinet assigned to Jacoba.

The case records and the draft decision were promptly sent to Executive Secretary (ES) Paquito Ochoa. On the same day, he rejected Jimenez's appeal due to its lack of merit.

On May 4, 2012, Ochoa created an investigating panel to look into the mishandling of the missing case records, which prompted the office to issue show-cause orders to Jacoba.

Following the investigation, Ochoa found Jacoba guilty and dismissed him from government service, according to an undated decision. 

Jacoba then appealed his case to the Civil Service Commission (CSC), but his appeal was denied on April 15, 2014. 

He then sought a reconsideration to the CSC, but was also denied on Jan. 15, 2015.

“The Civil Service Commission stressed that the mere imputation of bias is insufficient grounds for inhibition. It further noted that cases are decided collegially, hence the imputation that the supposed close connection between one of the three commissioners and a party to the case influenced the outcome, was unfounded,” the high court’s resolution read. 

This prompted Jacoba to bring his case to the Court of Appeals (CA), which the appellate court partly granted by only finding him guilty of simple misconduct in November 2017.

Following the CA decision, Jacoba filed a motion for partial reconsideration. The CSC, meanwhile, moved for a motion for reconsideration, which the appellate court both denied.

Jacoba challenged the CA's decision before the SC, arguing that both the CSC and the CA denied him of due process.

However, the high court said that both the CA and the CSC affirmed that procedural due process was not denied during their proceedings.

The SC also found evidence affirming the CSC’s findings of Jacoba committing grave misconduct and serious dishonesty.

“As noted by the CSC, the missing case records were never previously assigned to Jacoba, yet they were found in a cabinet owned and controlled by him,” the high court said.