Bong Revilla's half-brother shot dead in Parañaque home

MANILA, Philippines - A half-brother of Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. was shot and stabbed dead inside his house in Parañaque City shortly before midnight Friday.

Police said two armed men, one of them wearing a Halloween mask, entered the two-storey house of Ramgen “Ram” Jose Bautista, 23, in BF Homes Subdivision and then shot and stabbed him and his girlfriend, Janelle Ann Caren Manahan.

The attackers also shot Manahan before taking the victim’s sister Ma. Ramona Belen Bautista as hostage but leaving her near a shopping mall in Las Piñas an hour later.

Ram was declared dead on arrival at the Parañaque Medical Center due to multiple injuries while Manahan, who was also shot twice on the left side of the face and shoulder, is being treated at the Asian Hospital in Muntinlupa City.

The attackers spared Ramona but took her hostage. They dumped her along the Zapote-Alabang Road in Las Pinas near a shopping mall at about 1 a.m. where a security guard and responding lawmen found her in a state of shock.

Ramona told investigators that two men armed with a .45 pistol and a knife suddenly barged into their house and confronted her brother.

She said one of attackers shot her brother at close range before the other suspect repeatedly stabbed him.

Ramona said her brother, though wounded and bleeding, managed to fend off the attack and rushed inside his bedroom while Manahan was shouting for help.

Initial reports said the suspects then shot Manahan in the face while she was calling police emergency 117, and dragged Ramona out of the house into a waiting van.

“I was dragged into a van and they told me not to do anything bad or else I will be harmed,” Ramona later told investigators.

Ramona described the masked suspect as 5 feet 7 inches tall wearing baggy pants and grey jacket. She was not able to describe the other suspect

Sen. Revilla, on the other hand, called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to immediately go after the people behind the killing of his half brother Ram.

“I am appealing to the Philippine National Police, particularly to the Parañaque police, to exert all legal efforts to unmask immediately the culprits and mastermind behind the murder of my brother Ram. I strongly condemn the incident. Whatever the motive is, it should have not reached to the point of killing my sibling,” Revilla said.

Revilla said that he was not aware of any enemies of his brother who could have been behind the killing.

Revilla offered a reward of P500,000 to anyone who could provide valid information regarding the killers of his half brother.

He said the informants should just approach the police and provide whatever information they have to resolve the case.

“These kinds of crimes should be stopped right away,” he said.

A security guard who was on duty at the time of the incident claimed there was no van entering the subdivision.

Niño Tabada said he was on duty at that time and he was only a few blocks away from the Bautista residence.

Tabada said he heard no commotion or gunshots but he claimed Joseph, the brother of the victim, went out of the village shortly before midnight.

“He was walking (with his) head down,” Tabada said.

House helper Felicia Ramona also claimed she never heard any gunshot.

She said she went to sleep early but around midnight she heard some noises but ignored them until policemen arrived. – With Marvin Sy