Police put younger brother in custody for Ram Revilla’s death

(Updated 11: 30 a.m.) The younger brother of Ramgen “Ram" Revilla, who lived with him in the same house, is now in the custody of the Parañaque Police after Ram was stabbed and shot dead last Saturday, GMA News' "Unang Hirit" reported Tuesday morning. Joseph Bautista, 18, was brought straight to the fourth floor of the Parañaque City Police Station, to seclude him from media men, just before midnight Monday evening. Earlier arrested were two suspects who police identified only as Michael and Francis, the report added. To clarify the status of Bautista’s detention, “Unang Hirit" anchor Arnold Clavio interviewed Parañaque City Police chief Senior Superintendent Billy Beltran. “Kagabi po ay inimbitahan na po namin siya pero napilitan na po kami," explained Beltran. “Pero arrested po siya in short, sir," Beltran said. Asked why Bautista was arrested, the police officer replied: "Dahil po siya'y naituturong maaaring involved sa insidenteng ito." "Wala pong panlalaban na ginawa [si Bautista], talaga pong voluntary pong sumama sa amin," Beltran said. He affirmed they had “solid evidence" against Bautista and the authorities were now ruling out as possible motives robbery, politics or romantic jealousy, and instead focusing on the "personal feud" angle. “Tinitingnan na po namin yung anggulo na personalan," Beltran said. “Pero hintayin nyo po sana na maipresenta namin ang kaso namin sa piskalya at mainformahan ko ang aking mga bosses bago maibigay po ang ibang detalye." Bautista’s grandmother arrived at the station around 2 a.m. early Tuesday morning, expressing her surprise over the police inviting her grandson over to the investigation. “Siyempre wala tayong magagawa, pulis yan eh, inimbita ka, sumunod tayo sa batas," she conceded. Bautista’s lawyer, Ricardo Garrido, arrived afterwards but declined to make a statement. Guns for hire This developed as a police task force probing the incident said up to eight people may have taken a month to plan the killing of Ramgen. Chief Inspector Enrique Sy, who heads the task force looking into Revilla’s killing, said the eight were “guns for hire," even as he declined to name who they believe is the mastermind. "Our initial investigation shows the killers were guns for hire and were contracted to kill Revilla. There are seven or eight of them. Our witnesses claim the seven to eight talked among themselves to plan the killing," Sy said in Filipino in an interview on dwIZ radio. Ramgen, 22, the half-brother of Sen. Ramon “Bong" Revilla Jr., was fatally shot and stabbed in his house at BF Homes Parañaque sometime after 11 p.m. last Oct. 28. Ram's girlfriend was shot in the face and shoulder but survived the attack. Sy said she remains in intensive care but has given a statement to investigators. Sy said that of the seven to eight suspects, only “one to two" entered the house while the others acted as lookouts, or scouted the area before the killing. “Ang ating witness na kasama doon sa stage ng planning kasama siya pero di kasama sa pag-execute ng plan (We have witnesses in our custody who said they took part in the planning but not in the execution)," he added. Asked how long the suspects planned the killing, he said, “kulang-kulang isang buwan (more or less a month)." Sy also said there was no indication Revilla received threats before he was killed. As for the mastermind, he declined to name names for now. When asked if the mastermind is a prominent personality, he said, “hindi masyadong kilala (the mastermind is not well-known)." — with Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/MRT/RSJ, GMA News