Man who allegedly hired Ramgen’s killers surrenders

Wanting to clear his name in the murder of Ramgen Bautista and the attack on his girlfriend, Janelle Manahan, and also to seek protection against  threats to his life drove the suspected middleman in the killing to surface Tuesday morning at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Ryan Pastera, who allegedly contracted hired guns for Bautista’s killing, and who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by a Parañaque City court, surrendered Tuesday around 7 a.m. to NBI Deputy Director for Special Investigation Services and lawyer Edmund Arugay.

Accompanied by his aunt and his lawyer Melinda Salcedo, Pastera refused to grant media interviews as he was escorted from Arugay’s office to the NBI Death Investigation Division.

“Maybe he is more comfortable in the custody of the NBI,” Arugay said. “He previously sought the bureau’s assistance when he attended the preliminary investigation in the Parañaque City Prosecutor’s Office.”

Pastera’s aunt, who declined to give her name, told reporters that they only found out about the arrest warrant through the media and that they decided to go to the NBI so her nephew could defend himself against the charges.

The suspect’s aunt added that there were suspicious-looking persons lurking around her nephew’s home and that he had been receiving threats online.

Arugay said they might present Pastera on Wednesday at Parañaque City Regional Trial Court Branch 274 before Judge Fortunito Madrona who issued the arrest warrant against him, Ramgen’s sister Ma. Ramona, Glaiza Visda and Norwin de la Cruz.

The arrest order was issued during the January 17 arraignment of Bautista’s younger brother Ramon Joseph, the alleged mastermind of the killing, and suspected hired guns Michael Nartea and Roy Francis Tolisora, where they entered a not guilty plea.

On October 18 last year, a masked gunman barged into Bautista’s room shooting Manahan in the face before turning the gun on her boyfriend Ramgen, the eldest son of former Senator Ramon Revilla Sr. by Genelyn Magsaysay.

Manahan survived the attack but Bautista was killed on the spot after sustaining multiple stab wounds and a bullet wound.

Pastera was implicated in the crime after several witnesses claimed he had been soliciting the services of suspected hired guns several weeks before the killing.

The accused has denied any involvement in the killing and said he did not know any of the witnesses, including Nartea and Tolisora, who had claimed he had hired them.