Court defers ruling on plea to drop raps vs Gail Bautista, spouse

MANILA, Philippines—The fate of Gail Bautista-Furuyama and her husband Takehiro Furuyama as accused co-conspirators in the killing of her older brother, actor Ramgen Bautista, still hangs in the balance.

This developed as Paranaque City state prosecutor Lamberto Fabros deferred judgment on their plea that the charges filed against them be dropped.

The two are undergoing preliminary investigation in connection with the murder of Ramgen Bautista and frustrated murder of Ramgen’s girlfriend, Janelle Manahan.

Fabros instead ordered that the complete files in the case up to the present be served to the counsels of Gail and Takehiro, after their lawyers complained they did not receive certain pleadings in the case.

“As respondents, we were asked to answer the charges despite the fact that we have not received complete records in the case. The law provides that parties should be given copies of all pleadings in cases, but we were not given it. How can we answer properly if we do not have the complete records,” Jose Karingal, lawyer for Gail, told reporters after the preliminary investigation.

Fabros agreed to provide all parties the complete records in the case so far. The accused were given until the next hearing, set Feb. 29, to respond to the charges, while the prosecution will have until at least March 14 to file a rejoinder.

Resty Mendoza, counsel for Manahan, did not object to the move of the accused.

Mendoza noted that while it is now virtually impossible to be able to include the two in the charge sheet before the pre-trial on March 1, it is only but fair to give them due process to respond.

“What they did is part of giving due process. They should be given time to answer the complaint. We don’t think this is a delaying tactic,” he said.

For his part, Gerry Alberto, counsel for Takehiro, expressed hope that the case will be resolved soon. “We are confident the prosecutor will treat it with dispatch,” Alberto said.