Lawyer says Ramgen witness incompetent

A lawyer for Ramon Joseph “RJ” Bautista, one of the suspects in the killing of his older brother, Ramgen, Wednesday called a prosecution witness “incompetent” after the latter managed to identify only two of the seven accused in the case.

Senior Police Officer 4 Charlie Bayoca of the Parañaque police, who was criticized by lawyer Jeffrey Gepte,  was the first witness to be presented in connection with the petition for bail filed by RJ and his coaccused Michael Nartea, Roy Francis Tolisora, Glaiza Visda, Ryan Pastera and Jan Norwin dela Cruz.

Bayoca told Parañaque Regional Trial Court Branch 274 Judge Fortunito Madrona that he was a member of the arresting team assigned to the case. He said that he was present when Ruel Puzon, one of the witnesses, told the police where the other suspects could be found.

However, when asked to identify who these suspects were, Bayoca named only Nartea and Tolisora, saying he had no personal knowledge about the other accused.

“He is not competent to speak for all of the accused, including my client Ramon Joseph. He himself has no personal knowledge and attributes the information he has to Puzon. According to him, Puzon only pinpointed the two,” Gepte said.