MANILA, Philippines—There were enough pieces of evidence to support the murder charges filed against the younger siblings of actor Ram Revilla, police said.
This came after statements from members of the victim’s family questioned police findings pointing to former Senator Ramon Revilla Sr.’s two younger children—Ramon Joseph and Maria Ramona Belen—as the brains behind the killing.
“We won’t file a case based on one statement alone,” said Senior Superintendent Billy Beltran, Paranaque City police chief.
Ramgen was shot and stabbed dead while his girlfriend Janelle Manahan was hurt when masked suspects barged into his home in BF Homes, Paranaque last Friday.
Testimonies provided by four “vital witnesses”, along with other evidence gathered by investigators, led to the findings that the two were part of the seven-man team that plotted to murder Ram Revilla, whose real name was Ramgen Jose Bautista.
Two other suspects, Michael Cruz Altia and Roy Francis Tolisora, had “verbally admitted during (Tuesday’s) inquest, their involvement in planning the murder,” Task Force Ramgen head Chief Inspector Enrique Sy.
Sy said that the two also confessed that they first planned to kill Ramgen on October 12.
Citing statements from one of the witnesses, a certain Ruel Puzon who had been part of the group planning to kill Bautista but “backed-out even before the first attempt on October 12,” Sy said that a P200,000 “contract” fee was agreed and that P19,000 had been given by Ramgen’s younger brother Ramon Joseph to buy firearms.
Sy said that security guards from the subdivision also recalled seeing Maria Ramona Belen leaving the subdivision right after the incident, followed by Ramon Joseph.
“No abduction happened,” said Beltran, belying Maria Ramona Belen’s claim that she was abducted and left in Las Pinas.
He said that the manhunt for Maria Ramona Belen, Norwin Dela Cruz, and two others known only by their aliases “Glaiza” and “Bryan” has been suspended while police awaited arrest warrants from the Parañaque Prosecutors’ Office.
Beltran however denied reports that Ramgen was killed over a P1 million allowance split among the nine children of the former senator with Genalyn Magsaysay.
“That information did not come from us… (and) never cropped up in our investigation,” he said, adding that what they were also ruling out the angles of drugs and politics in the murder case.
Investigation showed the suspects’ motive was of a personal nature, he said.