Quezon City, Philippines, 17 June 2009 - SALINLAHI and other child rights advocates joined the Barrameda Family today in laying to rest the remains of murdered mom Ruby Rose as it chided the Las Pinas RTC 254 Judge Aglugob for violating the BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD principle in relation to the decision to deny the Barrameda petition to compel Ruby Rose's daughters to attend their mother's burial.

"When contending parties lay claim to a child's decision on a matter, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child highlights this BEST INTEREST principle. Imperative in the operation of the principle is the exercise of the child's right to express his or her opinion and the right to be heard," explained Sophia Garduce, SALINLAHI's spokesperson.

In the case of Judge Aglugob's decision to deny the Barrameda petition to compel the child to attend their mother's burial, the Jimenez’ lawyer revealed in yesterday's interview with the media that Judge Aglugob's decision was based on a conversation with Myrna (not her real name), Ruby Rose's 9 year old daughter, using the lawyer's mobile phone. In this conversation, Myrna claimed to have no desire to attend her mother's burial.

"In this conversation, the child's right to be heard and to express her opinion was not fully exercised in front of the Judge since the manner that the conversation was made did not give 100% assurance to the Judge whether Myrna was expressing her opinion with complete access to relevant information, and without duress," stressed Garduce.

According to Garduce, they visited Ruby Rose's wake, they learned from Ms. Rochelle Barrameda, Ruby Rose’s sister that the family received a visit from Myrna's classmate.  The classmate informed the Barrameda family that Myrna continues to believe that her mom is alive and is out of the country. “One cannot imagine the guilt and trauma this child will later on develop when she eventually finds out that indeed, her mother was inside that coffin and she failed to have that chance at closure and say her last farewell," explained Garduce.

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 court order.”
 
Finally, Garduce pointed out how inadequate our judicial system is in dealing with delicate issues where children's best interests are at stake. This despite the fact that this year, we are supposed to celebrate the 20th year anniversary of the Philippine's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. "If this lesson was painfully learned by the Barrameda family yesterday despite their relative access to resources, can you imagine the pain hundreds of thousands of poor children go through when the justice system turns a blind eye away from their best interests? Is this how little progress has beend made in upholding the rights of Filpino children?" Garduce ended. ###