Police note contradictions in statements on Ram Revilla slay

MANILA, Philippines—The statements of Janelle Manahan, girlfriend of the slain son of former Sen. Ramon Revilla Sr., Ramgen Jose Bautista, and his sister Maria Ramona Belen are contradictory, said Task Force Ramgen head Chief Inspector Enrique Sy on Thursday.

Ramona had earlier told police that the masked suspects who attacked Ramgen and Manahan in his home at BF Homes, Paranaque, abducted her from the house and dropped her off in Las Pinas after the incident, Sy said in a phone interview.

But Manahan’s statement painted a different picture, Sy explained. He recalled the hospitalized victim’s statement that Ramona did not return after she supposedly called for an ambulance to rush Ramgen to a hospital.

Based on Manahan’s statement to police, on the night of the attack, Ramona knocked on the door of Ramgen’s room and asked to borrow her brother’s video camera, said Sy. It was after she left that the masked assailants barged into their room, shot her twice and then shot Ramgen.

He said that Manahan recalled Ramona shouting “tama na (stop it)!” to the gunmen.

Sy added that the two women tried to call Ramon Joseph Bautista but that when the younger brother did not answer his phone, Manahan asked Ramona to find a way to call for an ambulance.

“She (Ramona) did not come back after that,” said the Task Force Ramgen chief, adding that Ramgen’s personal assistant told authorities that he saw Ramona leave her brother’s home. Sy said that security guards from the subdivision also saw Ramona head out from the neighborhood after the incident, followed shortly by Ramon Joseph.

Manahan was still recovering from two gunshot wounds, said Sy.

Ramon Joseph and two other suspects Michael Cruz Altia and Roy Francis Tolisora were taken into custody by police earlier this week.

Senior Superintendent Billy Beltran, Paranaque City police chief, said that the manhunt for Ramona, 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 where cases for murder and frustrated murder were filed against the seven suspects.