Witness identifies Barrameda slay suspect

MANILA, Philippines -  The lone witness in the grisly murder of Ruby Rose Barrameda identified in court yesterday the man who allegedly strangled her to death.

At the resumption of the hearing at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig, witness Manuel Montero positively identified Lennard “Spyke” Descalso before Malabon Regional Trial Court Judge Zaldy Docena.

Barrameda was the sister of actress Rochelle Barrameda, who went missing in 2007. Her body was later found inside a cemented steel box, which was poached off Navotas waters through the help of Montero in June 2009.

In the charge sheet filed by the prosecution, Montero said Descalso and two others abducted the victim in Las Piñas City in 2007.

They brought her to the BSJ Fishing Co. compound in Navotas City where she was allegedly killed on the orders of her estranged husband’s father Manuel Jr. and uncle Lope.

According to Montero, Descalso strangled the victim before the other henchmen placed her body inside a steel drum, cemented it, and threw it in the waters.