Exactly a year after police retrieved her cement-encased dead body from a steel drum in the murky depths off Navotas City, Ruby Rose Barrameda-Jimenez has yet to receive some semblance of justice.

On June 10, her family, along with a throng of supporters including the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and militant group Gabriela, held a prayer rally in front of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to make people aware of their plight.

Actress Rochelle Barrameda, the victim’s sister, told reporters that the rally was meant to remind people of the grisly crime whose perpetrators are still very much enjoying unfettered freedom.

Barrameda said she is hoping they would be able to sway the DOJ to reconsider its earlier decision to drop the charges against Lope Jimenez, one of the prime suspects in the case.

Jimenez, an uncle of the victim’s estranged husband, was charged by suspect-turned-witness Manuel Montero of ordering the killing.

It was Montero’s testimony that formed the basis of the murder case the family filed against Jimenez, Ruby Rose's father-in-law Manuel Jimenez Jr., and accomplices Eric Fernandez, Robert Ponce, and Lennard "Spyke" Descalso.

However, Manuel III himself, the husband of the victim, was not charged.

The victim was in the middle of a legal dispute with her husband over the custody of their children when she disappeared in March 2007. The couple had separated with the victim filing a Temporary Protective Order against her husband.

Prior to her murder, she was supposed to have gone to visit her children in her father-in-law's house where they were living. She failed to return home.

Her body was found only on June 10 of last year.

In a separate interview with an online news site, Barrameda shared the difficulties she is experiencing in securing justice for her sister.

Barrameda said she had to sell most of her personal belongings to continue financing the case. She eventually took out a loan from a bank after she depleted her accounts.

“It really is hard,” said she, adding that they ultimately had to secure the help of a lawyer who offer services pro bono to lessen their expenses, which she said already amounts to millions.

Still, she vows to pursue the case to its end.

"It is my obligation to find justice for my sister," she said. "I know it's a long battle, but my faith in God keeps me going. For example, when I find myself short on money, I would be offered a role in a television show. I know that is God giving me what I need."

More than the financial limitations, Barrameda also confessed to having emotional stress, which she described as “unbearable.”

"There is not a single day that I do not cry for my sister Ruby Rose," said Barrameda.

Barrameda is hoping for more work to augment the family’s income in light of their fiscal difficulties.

Barrameda had not been active in her acting career. She and her husband, former actor Jimwell Stevens, rely on a small business for their livelihood.