Judge affirms order for Ramona's arrest

MANILA, Philippines - A Parañaque judge handling the Ram Revilla murder case reaffirmed his decision to order the arrest of the slain actor’s sister, fugitive Ramona Bautista.

In a two-page order, Judge Fortunito Madrona of Regional Trial Court Branch 274, denied Bautista’s motion to recall the warrant of arrest. He also denied another motion asking the judge to remove her name from the hold departure list and reinstate her cancelled Philippine passport.

Bautista is one of the accused masterminds in the plot to kill Revilla (Ramgen Bautista in real life). The other one is their younger brother, Ramon Joseph, who is currently detained in Parañaque City Jail with five other co-accused.

The seven are facing murder charges for Revilla’s death and frustrated murder for the attack on the actor’s girlfriend, Janelle Manahan.

Manahan and Bautista were with Revilla when a gunman wearing a mask barged into the actor’s room and shot Revilla and Manahan, while Bautista was unharmed.

Bautista initially told police that Revilla’s attackers abducted her. She recanted her claim before flying to Turkey in November.

On Jan. 12, the prosecutor handling the case found probable cause to elevate the case against Bautista and three other co-accused to Madrona’s sala. The next day, Madrona issued a warrant of arrest. Bautista, for her part, filed a motion for judicial determination of probable cause.

The same month, Bautista also asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review the prosecutor’s findings.

“There is no probable cause yet considering the accused filed a petition for review... before the (DOJ), considering its pendency, this...court cannot proceed to study the case...since there is no final resolution yet,” read Bautista’s eight-page motion.

Bautista also said that since the court cannot issue a hold departure order and cancel her passport because it “has no jurisdiction yet over (her) due to her timely filing of petition for review with the DOJ.”

Madrona, in his two-page order, clarified that the main reason why he issued a warrant of arrest against Bautista was to “effect the acquisition of jurisdiction over the person accused.”

He added that the court has already determined probable cause even before the petition was filed before the DOJ.

“An initial determination of probable cause was already made by the court incident to the issuance of warrant of arrest... It so happened that, as borne out in the records, the warrant of arrest (for Bautista) was issued...on the same date,” the order, dated April 20, read.

“Because of this, the court would treat said motion as redetermination of probable cause when the proper time comes,” the order added.