Ruby Rose laid to rest

MANILA, Philippines – The remains of Ruby Rose Barrameda-Jimenez, a victim of a Mafia-style execution, was finally laid to rest at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City yesterday morning despite the failure of her two daughters to visit her wake.

Close to 500 mourners that included Ruby Rose’s family, friends and relatives attended the one-hour Mass held inside a private room at a building inside the Manila Memorial Park compound. Wearing pins and shirts that cried justice for Ruby Rose, the latter’s supporters filled the room. And as if telling the whole world their call in just one line, the shirts read: “Justice for Ruby Rose Jimenez” but with Jimenez crossed out as it bore a huge letter X on top of it.

Several officials and students of the University of Perpetual Help in Las Piñas City were also present to show their support to the grieving family’s fight. “Nagpapasalamat po kami sa mga patuloy na sumusuporta at nagdarasal para sa aming anak. Kung hindi ka man nadalaw ng iyong dalawang anak, siguro naman ay nakikita mo rin kung ano man ang kalagayan nila ngayon,” Roberto Barrameda, the victim’s father, said in his short speech after the Mass.

He again expressed disappointment over the court’s resolution that denied their petition to allow or make possible the visit of Ruby Rose’s children at the latter’s wake.

Judge Gloria Aglugub of Las Piñas Regional Trial Court-Branch 254 on Tuesday afternoon junked the family’s petition to allow the victim’s children to go to the wake and burial.

Seen joining the burial march were beauty and wellness guru Cory Quirino and Gabriela Party-list Rep. Liza Maza. Members of women’s group Gabriela and the anti-crime group Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption who brought placards bearing words of support for the family, also joined the march going to the burial site.

Ruby Rose and her husband had been separated since December 2006. A month after, she filed a temporary protection order and writ of habeas corpus before the Las Piñas RTC concerning the custody of their two children.

It was sometime in March 2007 when Ruby Rose was reported missing. Her body was recovered more than a week ago.

 Ruby Rose was reportedly strangled, her body placed inside a drum, and cement was later poured into it. The drum was put into a steel box before it was loaded into a ship with the use of a forklift. Afterwards the steel case was submerged into the seawaters of Navotas.

Children’s rights

In related developments, child rights advocates said yesterday the decision of the Regional Trial Court in Las Piñas not to allow the children of murder victim Ruby Rose to visit their mother’s wake has violated the childrens’ right to be heard and to express their opinion.

In a statement, Sophia Garduce, spokesperson of the Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns, said Aglugub violated the best interest of the child principle when she denied the motion of the parents of Ruby Rose to allow her two children to visit her wake. Aglugub released a resolution Tuesday rejecting the motion, saying that the children were not willing to visit the wake.

Garduce also said that the RTC should have differentiated the petition for custody and the motion for the children to visit their mother’s wake.

“For cultural and humanitarian reasons, the judge should have granted the petition to allow the children to visit their mother’s wake for their peace of mind. The Jimenez family, for that matter should have allowed the children, as they have previously stated, even without a court order,” Garduce said. She said the lawyer of the Jimenez family has disclosed in an interview with the media that Aglugob’s decision was based on a conversation with Ruby Rose’s eldest daughter, using the lawyer’s mobile phone. In this conversation, Ruby Rose’s daughter claimed to have no desire to attend her mother’s burial, Garduce said.

Jimenez camp

Morevoer, the lawyer of Navotas fishing magnate Lope Jimenez, one of the seven suspects in the murder of Ruby Rose yesterday said that momentarily they would no longer issue any statement to the media regarding the case.”We have nothing more to say until we could file our counter-affidavit,” Paul Lentejas, Jimenez’s legal counsel, said in a text message to The STAR. Earlier, Lentejas said they would file counter-charges against Manuel Montero, former operations manager of Lope’s Buena Suerte Jimenez Fishing and Trading Co. in Navotas.

Montero, who was reportedly receiving P100,000 monthly salary for his job, has an “ax to grind” against his former boss, Lentejas said. Montero was dismissed from his job in December 2007, “for a lot of misdeeds.” He named his former employer and his older brother lawyer Manuel Jimenez II with four others in the Ruby Rose killing.

“The moment that we receive his (Montero) affidavit, definitely we will file counter- charges against him,” Lentejas told The STAR in a recent interview.

Montero, who claimed being one of the “lesser players” in the Ruby Rose murder, surrendered to the police and turned state witness. He guided the police in the recovery of Ruby Rose’s body stuffed in a cemented drum on June 11 off the Navotas seawaters.

Lope, Jimenez II, with four others and Montero, were charged with murder before the Department of Justice last Thursday for Ruby Rose’ killing. – With Katherine Adraneda, Pete Laude