City jail for Ramgen murder ‘middleman’

The Parañaque Regional Trial Court has ordered authorities to detain Ryan Pastera, a suspect in the murder of actor Ramgen Bautista, at the Parañaque City Jail despite his lawyer’s insistence that he remain in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) because of supposed threats to his life.

Judge Fortunito Madrona, who is hearing the murder and frustrated murder cases of Ramgen and girlfriend Janelle Manahan, respectively, ordered that Pastera be turned over to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Fellow suspects Ramon Joseph Bautista, the victim’s brother, and Roy Francis Tolisora and Michael Nartea are being held in the city jail.

Pastera’s lawyer Melinda Salcedo told the court Wednesday that her client had been receiving death threats since being implicated in the murder, citing them as her basis in a bid to keep Pastera under NBI custody.

NBI agents took Pastera to the court around 9 a.m. Wednesday after he spent the night at the agency’s headquarters in Manila. The suspect surrendered to the bureau on Tuesday after Madrona issued a warrant for his arrest on January 17.

Pastera was accused of serving as a middleman between the masterminds in the murder of Ramgen Bautista.