Aide affirms Ram Revilla’s rift with siblings over money

(Updated 8:48 p.m.) The personal assistant of slain actor Ramgen “Ram" Revilla, half-brother of Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., has affirmed that there was a rift among the Revilla siblings when Ram was killed inside his Parañaque City home last Friday. In his sworn statement, Ronaldo Ancajas, Ram’s stay-in personal assistant, said the victim and his two siblings implicated in the killing—Ramona and Ramon Joseph or RJ—have not been on speaking terms for the past months due to disagreement over money. “Ang alam ko ay matagal nang may tampuhan sila tungkol sa budget ng bahay, dahil si boss Ramgen ang humahawak at sinisiraan daw siya sa daddy nila, at mga ilang buwan din silang hindi nagkikibuan," Ancajas said in his statement, a copy of which was obtained by GMA News. Ram’s personal assistant noted he was with the victim minutes before the killing, but went upstairs to his room for a nap. When he woke up, he saw Ram’s two siblings making their way out of the subdivision where he and Ram live. “Nakaidlip ako dahil sa pagod at puyat at mga ilang minuto, bigla akong nagising. Pagsilip ko sa bintana ng kwarto ko ay nakita ko si Joseph na naglalakad palabas ng gate ng subdivision. Mga ilang minuto, sumunod naman si Mara (Ramona)," he said. The aide likewise said that he thought RJ and Ramona were on their way to Baguio City. He added that he only learned about Ram’s killing when police forced him out of the house and brought him to a nearby headquarters.
'‘Cover up' In a Nov. 1 report on the shooting incident, Parañaque police chief Senior Superintendent Billy Beltran said two of the subdivision’s security guards also spotted RJ and Ramona walking toward the gate after the crime was committed. Security guards Joyrex Asimbrado and Niño Tabada saw RJ walking alone and going outside the gate at 10:54 p.m. Friday, and was followed by Ramona minutes later, he said. According to the report, one of the gunmen who shot Ram and his girlfriend, Janelle Manahan, wore a Halloween mask, an Army green jacket, and was armed with a handgun with a silencer. Beltran said in the report that the testimonies of Ancajas and the security guards showed that Ramona “was not telling the truth and tried to make a cover-up" when she claimed that she was kidnapped by her brother’s assailants after the shooting and was later abandoned in Las Piñas City. Suspects Ramona and RJ have been charged with murder and frustrated murder complaints for their brother’s killing and the attack on Manahan, respectively. RJ was arrested last Tuesday, while Ramona remains at large after police stopped the manhunt as the case was filed with the Parañaque Prosecutors Office. However, members of the Revilla clan, including Sen. Revilla doubted the results of the police probe and calling for a reinvestigation. Genelyn Magsaysay, mother of Ram, RJ and Ramona, said her children would not resort to murder to settle their differences. She said she raised them as God-fearing people. Members of Task Force Ramgen and the Parañaque City police are standing by the results of their investigation and maintained that the case is closed. — KBK/VS, GMA News