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Barrameda accused
fires PAO lawyers
BY ANGELA LOPEZ DE LEON
MANUEL Montero, suspect-turned-witness who led police last May to the body of Ruby Rose Barrameda, yesterday dismissed the lawyers of the Public Attorneys Office.
No reason was given by Montero and PAO chief Persida Rueda Acosta who said she was surprised. Acosta had earlier assigned four PAO lawyers to help Montero.
Acosta said she was talking to Montero over the phone yesterday when SPO1 Romeorico Loveriz gave her a note informing her that Montero was terminating their legal services.
"We don’t know why he changed his mind, he did not give us any explanation," said Acosta.
She said that based on the note, Montero has opted to take the services of Arturo Paglinawan, former head of the Manila Police District General Assignment Division, as his counsel.
"We respect his decision because it’s his prerogative. We have done our duty after we endorsed him to the Department of Justice for its Witness Protection Program. We just pray that justice would prevail in the Barrameda case," said Acosta.
Acosta said they also stopped the services of their forensic consultant, Dr. Erwin Erfe, in connection with the case.
Montero, who worked as operations manager of Buena Suerte Jimenez Fishing and Trading Co., had confessed to be among those who killed Ruby Rose, a mother of two who went missing for two years before her body was fished off the Navotas coastline, found stuffed with concrete in a steel drum.
Ruby Rose was a sister of ex-beauty queen and former actress Rochelle Barrameda. Ruby Rose disappeared in the midst of a custody case over her two children with husband Manuel Jimemez III.
Six persons will be tried for murder including Montero, Ruby Rose’s father-in-law lawyer Manuel Jimenez and uncle-in-law Lope Jimenez, owner of the Jimenez shipping firm. The husband was cleared.
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