Another sister linked to slay

One of the suspects in the Ramgen Bautista murder case on Thursday claimed that Gail, one of the victim’s younger siblings, had ordered another suspect—Ryan Pastera—to look for hired gunmen to kill her brother.

In the affidavit she submitted to the Parañaque City Prosecutor’s Office, Glaiza Visda said that she learned of the plan to kill Bautista from Pastera and Sheridan Embat, the latest witness to be presented by the police.

Visda’s claims, however, were all based on the information given to her by Pastera.

According to her, the victim’s siblings, including Gail, wanted Bautista dead because “whenever [their father] berates Ramgen, he turns his ire on his siblings. He beats up everyone in the house and even hits [the] children with the butt of a pistol.”

A witness earlier tagged Visda and her boyfriend, Norwin dela Cruz, as the ones whom Pastera had contacted about hiring men to kill Bautista, a claim denied by the couple.

Getting death threats

Meanwhile, Chief Insp. Enrique Sy, head of Task Force Ramgen, said that Embat went to them on Wednesday and provided them with more information on how Bautista’s murder was planned.

“He voluntarily went to the task force to disclose what he knows of the murder,” Sy told reporters, adding that the new witness claimed that he had been getting death threats from Pastera, and Bautista’s younger brother, Ramon Joseph, who was also earlier tagged by a witness as the mastermind in the Oct. 28 killing, along with his sister, Ma. Ramona.

According to the police official, Embat was one of several fraternity brothers tapped by Pastera, the suspected recruiter of Bautista’s killer, to look for hired guns who could carry out the killing.

Pastera has yet to surrender to the police although Parañaque City Police intelligence head, Chief Insp. Fergen Torred, confirmed that the former had sent surrender feelers.

“I received a phone call on Wednesday from one of his friends who was asking for the procedure on the surrender and the requirements,” Torred told the Inquirer yesterday.

Birthday party

In the affidavit he submitted to Assistant City Prosecutor Leah Roma, Embat claimed that he and Pastera met on Sept. 26 at the birthday party of a mutual friend on Taft Avenue.

When Pastera asked him if he knew of someone they could hire to kill Bautista, he said that he recommended that they get in touch with Roy Francis Tolisora.

On Oct. 12, Embat said that he was present when Pastera gave P50,000 to Tolisora to buy the equipment he needed for killing Bautista, including a motorcycle.

He added that he and Tolisora then started monitoring Bautista’s movements although Tolisora never got around to killing Ramgen.

“He [Tolisora] received a phone call from Pastera informing him that the target had already been killed,” Sy told the Inquirer.

Bautista, the eldest of nine children born to former Sen. Ramon Revilla Sr. and Genelyn Magsaysay, was stabbed and shot inside his family’s house in BF Homes Parañaque on Oct. 28.