Ma. Ramona “Mara” Bautista was drunk at the time her brother Ramgen Bautista was shot and stabbed by a still unidentified masked man, according to the victim’s girlfriend, Janelle Manahan.
In an affidavit that she filed in absentia with the Parañaque Prosecutor’s Office on Friday afternoon, Manahan said that Mara herself told her that she was tipsy because she had a few drinks with her friends.
She added that Mara’s condition irked her brother—his usual reaction whenever she showed signs of being drunk. Manahan said that she had been staying at the Bautistas’ house in BF Parañaque for the past five years.
“At that time, Ramgen was doing sit-ups. He turned to me and said, ‘Ano daw? Nakainom siya? (What did she say? Is she drunk?)’ Then I noticed Ramgen make a certain facial expression,” Manahan said.
Her affidavit was in response to claims made by Mara from Istanbul, Turkey, where the latter had fled after a witness tagged her and another brother, Ramon Joseph or RJ, as the masterminds in Ramgen’s killing.
In particular, Mara denied that she and her other siblings had been feuding with Ramgen—the eldest of nine children born to former Senator Ramon Revilla Sr. and Genelyn Magsaysay.
Manahan’s lawyers, Restituto Mendoza and Ray Gilbert Espinosa, submitted to Assistant City Prosecutor Leah Roma their client’s affidavit, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer.
According to Manahan, she asked Mara why she was still in Manila because she and Ramgen thought that Mara had already left for Baguio to visit another brother, Ram Ram, a cadet at the Philippine Military Academy.
Mara then told her that she and RJ were supposed to leave for Baguio together but that the latter had gone out and she was waiting for him to come back, Manahan added.
The conversation took place at the Bautistas’ house just minutes before Ramgen was killed.
According to Manahan, she and Ramgen later went upstairs to his room but they were followed by Mara who asked her brother about recording a video message for Ram Ram.
Manahan said that she kept the door to the room open as she thought that Mara would be with them for just a few seconds.
As Ramgen and Mara talked, Manahan said she sat on the floor, tinkering with her cell phone when she felt something hit her in the right shoulder.
“My sudden thought was maybe I was hit by an airsoft gun. I did not hear any sound of gunfire,” she said. “After I [turned my head] to the left, I saw a man with a plastic Halloween mask wearing an Army green jacket. He was holding a pistol with a silencer pointed at my face. Then he shot me in the face.”
She added that she heard Ramgen curse the gunman as she felt blood ooze out of the gunshot wound in her face. Mara then approached her to ask where she was shot.
Throughout the attack, Mara seemed to be in a daze, exclaiming over the blood from her wounds and calling her brother’s name several times.
Manahan added that Mara appeared to be confused and did not know who to call for help.
She said that she kept on telling Mara to call for help as Ramgen slumped to the floor. She even asked Mara to call another of her siblings, Gail. When Gail answered Mara’s phone call, Manahan said she overheard Gail telling her sister in a normal voice, “Okay, we’re on our way there.”
She added that Mara also promised to get help but it never came. Manahan ended up asking for help herself through text messages sent to her mother and other relatives.
In her affidavit, Manahan earlier gave details about the bitter feud between Ramgen and his siblings, explaining that Ramgen was forced to take over the running of the household from their mother who, according to her, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
In a chance interview on Friday, Mara’s counsel, Aguido Jeffrey Gepte, said his client would come home at the proper time. He also appealed to the public to give the family some time to heal from the tragedy of Ramgen’s death.