Bong Revilla now thinks half-sister involved in brother’s killing
MANILA, Philippines—An enraged Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. sought an investigation Saturday into the sudden departure of his half-sister Maria Ramona Bautista, a suspect in the murder of their 23-year-old brother Ramgen.
The senator appeared more and more convinced that Ramona had something to do with the attack, which also wounded Ramgen’s girlfriend Janelle Manahan, last October 29.
“The guilty must be punished! The unwarranted flight of Ramona Bautista is a sign of guilt that she has knowledge and direct participation in the commission of the crime,” he said in a statement.
“If there are others involved, be they my half-brothers and sisters, they must bear the full force and weight of the law and suffer the … consequences of their involvement either as principals, accomplices, or accessories, as the case maybe.”
Revilla questioned Ramona’s departure for Hong Kong at around 9 p.m. Friday on board Cathay Pacific flight CX 902.
“If you’re not guilty, why would you leave?” Revilla asked in Filipino in a phone interview with the Inquirer. “As they say, flight is an admission of guilt.”
Growing more emotional, he later said, “If the laws of man could not punish her, God will definitely punish her.”
In the statement, he asked police to “investigate who are the people involved (in) and facilitated Ramona Bautista’s flight outside of the country, and determine their legal accountability, if any.”
“I will do everything within my power as a public servant that the rule of law must prevail, and justice must be served, regardless of whoever gets hurt,” he added.
Revilla told the Inquirer that he wanted to know particularly how Ramona managed to leave the country and where she was really planning to stay.
Asked if Hong Kong might have been a jump-off point to another destination, he said without elaborating: “I know that her husband is from Turkey.”
“I want to know where she was really headed, how long she planned to be away, who facilitated her departure. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered,” he said.
Revilla, who was earlier accused of coddling Ramona, said Ramona’s mother, Genalyn, and her lawyer should answer for her departure.
He said it was unlikely that Ramona’s camp would seek his help because it was supposedly blaming him for the arrest of 18-year-old Ramon Joseph, another half-brother accused of masterminding the killing.
“That side (of the family) is mad at me because of what happened to RJ. They’re blaming me. That’s why they would never approach me,” he said.
Revilla earlier came to Ramona’s assistance after she was taken to the Las Piñas police, a few hours after the attack in her family’s residence in BF Homes, Parañaque City.
Ramona then claimed that the assailants abducted her and later left her unharmed near a shopping mall on the Alabang-Zapote Road in Las Piñas. On Friday, she admitted in a television interview that she had made up the story because she was “in shock.”
Asked to comment on Ramona’s fake abduction, the senator said: “She lied. What you’re thinking is what we are thinking as well.”
Revilla said Ramona should have realized the “gravity” of her departure.
“She is facing a very serious case. The implications are grave. She’s making things even more difficult for those left behind, especially her brother who is now in jail. What happens to him now? With her departure, it now appears that the case is really strong against him,” he said.
Revilla said it was bad enough that siblings had been linked to the killing of Ramgen. Worse, he said, was that Ramona decided to leave “instead of confronting the case against her.”
“Lalo nilang pinasasakit ang ulo ko,” said the senator, who has lately become the face of the Revilla clan amid the controversy.
The senator poured out his sentiments to the family patriarch, former senator Ramon Revilla Sr., the other day, saying: “Parang pasan ko ang buong mundo (It’s as if I’m bearing the entire world).” He said his father told him to hang on.
“We are just after the truth and what is right. It was Ramgen who is the victim here. I don’t care if it would later turn out that the perpetrator was a half-brother or a half-sister. We want justice for Ramgen and we will not stop until we get it,” Revilla Jr. said.
