Defense lawyer asks DOJ to take over Revilla slay case

MANILA, Philippines - The lawyer of the two accused gunmen in the Ram Revilla slay case has asked the Department of Justice to take over the investigation.

Lawyer Ana Luz Cristal, who represents Roy Francis Tolisora and Michael Nartea, said she wrote Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Thursday to ask her department if it could appoint a team to handle the probe.

“I am not satisfied with the police work,” Cristal said in a phone interview yesterday.

Cristal said she could not understand why the police are holding on to her clients, when even their two star witnesses said Nartea and Tolisora were replaced after they failed to kill Revilla on Oct. 12.

She added that she has three other witnesses to prove that Tolisora did not participate in the crime, while Nartea has his wife to prove his innocence.

In his counter affidavit, Tolisora admitted participating in the initial attempts to kill Revilla (Ramgen Jose Bautista in real life). He said he was tasked as gunman in at least five attempts from Oct. 3 to Oct. 12.

Nartea came into the picture after his father, Mario, quit as Tolisora’s partner on Oct. 11.

The one who ultimately killed Revilla and wounded his girlfriend Janelle Manahan in Revilla’s BF Homes residence on Oct. 28 replaced Tolisora and Nartea, but police have yet to identify the gunman, Cristal said.

The supposed replacements – Ruel “Katcho” Puzon and Loyd “Lim” Comeda – are the police’s star witnesses in the case. Puzon and Comeda admitted that they were asked to kill Revilla but said they turned it down.

Both Tolisora and Puzon claimed that the group behind the murder wanted Revilla killed because he hurt his siblings and he was a rebellious son.

Senior Superintendent Billy Beltran, chief of Parañaque City police, declined to elaborate on the case since it is already in court. He added that the reason why the police investigators continue to detain Nartea and Tolisora was “something he cannot discuss,” but maintained that he is standing by the findings of his men.

Seven people were charged for Revilla’s murder, including his two younger siblings Ramon Joseph, who is currently detained at the city jail, and Ramona Bautista, who flew to Turkey.

Others were Tolisora, Nartea, a certain Bryan, Glaiza Vista, and Norwin de la Cruz.

Missing link

Cristal told The STAR that Tolisora told her that “someone with the same height and build” as Vista was brought into the Parañaque police station last Tuesday before the preliminary investigation started.

Vista is deemed the “missing link” in the case as she allegedly hired the men who killed Revilla.

Cristal said her client “cannot be mistaken” because he and Vista are good friends. Tolisora, however, failed to see the person’s face because the person was covered from head to toe.

“Even the hands were covered with gloves. Why? It must be a woman,” she said.

Cristal said Vista and Tolisora sent each other text messages about the Revilla murder based on what the police retrieved from Tolisora’s Nokia 6100 phone.

The police, for its part, maintained that Vista has only sent surrender feelers so far. Beltran said they do not have Vista in custody while Chief Inspector Enrique Sy, head of Task Force Ramgen, said negotiations for Vista’s surrender have yet to materialize.