MANILA, Philippines—Police investigators handling the probe into the Oct. 28 murder of Ramgen Bautista (aka Ram Revilla) may have been “outwitted” by Ma. Ramona “Mara” Bautista, who fled the country Friday after being tagged as principal suspect in the killing of her brother, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Monday.
Parrying criticisms of arbitrarily exercising her power to hold one’s travel abroad in the case of Ramona and former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, De Lima said she should not be blamed for not immediately placing Ramona in the immigration bureau’s watch list.
“The problem in the Ramona case is that the police did not act fast enough as they apparently were outwitted,” De Lima said in a text message to the INQUIRER.
De Lima, who had just returned from a meeting of justice ministers of member-nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia, said she did not receive any request from the Parañaque City police to put Ramona in the watch list order.
She argued that the circumstances behind her decision to defer action on Arroyo’s foreign trip should not be compared with that of Ramona’s.
While Ramona has yet to be summoned by the public prosecutor in connection with Ramgen’s murder, she said Arroyo was already a subject of preliminary investigation of several plunder and electoral sabotage cases.
Both criminal offenses are considered non-bailable and punishable by life imprisonment.
“The (judicial) process against Ramona has yet to start. She’s not yet a subject of preliminary investigation,” De Lima said in an interview over the radio.
“Neither the police nor the prosecutor asked me (to place her in the watch list) precisely because the preliminary investigation is yet to start,” she said.
De Lima said she was considering formally asking the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel Ramona’s passport to facilitate her immediate return to the country.
“Cancellation of her passport is always an option,” the justice secretary said, adding:
“But I will ask first our legal staff to study and determine if that course of action is already ripe or warranted under the premises.”
De Lima said Ramona’s sudden departure “highlights the importance of retaining the executive power” of the Department of Justice in issuing hold-departure and watch list orders.
She said such authority, as contained in Department Circular 41 issued by her predecessor, former Justice Secretary Alberto Agra, was very critical “in situations where the courts have not yet acquired jurisdiction over criminal offenses.”
“The government cannot be rendered powerless in such situations where there’s already a real need to prevent a suspect/respondent from fleeing the country and, thus, be beyond the reach of the investigative processes,” De Lima said.