MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the dismissal from government service of a lawyer for hiding the records of the Ruby Rose Barrameda murder case in his file cabinet at Malacañang.
In a 23-page decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the SC reversed and set aside a Court of Appeals (CA) ruling that found Jerik Roderick Jacoba, who used to work for the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs, guilty of simple neglect of duty.
The SC then reinstated the decision of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) that found Jacoba guilty of grave misconduct and serious dishonesty and imposed on him the penalties of dismissal from government service, forfeiture of all retirement benefits, perpetual disqualification from government service and cancellation of civil service eligibility.
In affirming Jacoba’s liability, the SC said the evidence on record substantially supports the CSC’s findings that Jacoba had full access to the areas where the missing case records were last seen. The records were found in a locked file cabinet under his control and for his exclusive use.
It was also noted that the missing case records were never previously assigned to Jacoba.
“These are relevant pieces of evidence that substantially support the conclusion that Jacoba abused his influence and authority to spirit away the case records, hide them in a filing cabinet under his control and then refuse to reveal their whereabouts when asked about them,” the decision read.
It was established that Jacoba had exclusive use of the cabinet where the case records were found, based on the testimony of his secretary.
The SC said Jacoba failed to present proof to back up his claim that he was targeted and that the missing records were planted in his cabinet.
The High Court noted that witnesses confirmed that Jacoba had access to the office where the case records had been kept and regularly took files from there.
It was also pointed out that Jacoba had been unwilling to help in the office-wide search for the missing case records or to look through his own workspace.
Barrameda’s body was found in a steel drum filled with concrete and thrown into the waters off Navotas in 2009, over two years after she had been declared missing.
In 2010, the case was forwarded to the Legal Affairs of the Office of the President (OP) in 2010 for review after suspect Manuel Jimenez III, Barrameda’s husband, filed an appeal.
In 2012, then undersecretary Ronaldo Geron of the OP inquired about the status of the Jimenez appeal. It was then learned that the case records could not be found.
On May 2, 2012, the missing records with the draft decision were found locked in a filing cabinet used by Jacoba.
After an investigation, then executive secretary Pacquito Ochoa dismissed Jacoba for unlawfully accessing and taking the Barrameda case records.
Jacoba appealed the decision before the CSC, but it swas denied.
The Malabon regional trial court acquitted Jimenez of parricide and his father, shipping magnate Manuel Jimenez Jr., of murder in 2019 after accused-turned-witness Manuel Montero recanted his testimony in 2013 and subsequently went missing.
Montero had pointed to the location of Barrameda’s body and identified the Jimenezes as being behind her murder.