Arrest of RJ Bautista is illegal, defense asserts

The defense attorney of Ramon Joseph "RJ" Bautista said on Thursday his client must be set free because his arrest was illegal. Atty. Dennis Manzanal asserted that the circumstances of the arrest of RJ for the murder of his brother, Ramgen Revilla, are inconsistent with the conditions on warrantless arrest. Manzanal filed before the Paranaque City Prosecutor's Office a motion seeking the release of RJ Bautista from detention. He said the "hot pursuit" reason for his client's arrest is baseless. GMA News' Emil Sumangil, in a report on 24 Oras, said Manzanal also belittled as "weak" the evidence police investigators presented to the Paranaque City Prosecutor's Office.
According to the Supreme Court's Rules of Criminal Procedure, a peace officer or private person, may effect an arrest without warrant: "(a) When, in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing, or is attempting to commit an offense; (b) When an offense has just been committed and he has probable cause to believe based on personal knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it; and (c) When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from a penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or is temporarily confined while his case is pending, or has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another."
Rule 113 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure also provides that when the warrantless arrest is made by an officer of the law, "the officer shall inform the person to be arrested of his authority and the cause of the arrest, unless the latter is either engaged in the commission of an offense, is pursued immediately after its commission, has escaped, flees, or forcibly resists before the officer has opportunity to so inform him, or when the giving of such information will imperil the arrest." In an interview with GMA News' Arnold Clavio on Nov. 1 Paranaque City police chief Sr. Supt. Billy Beltran said RJ Bautista was 'invited' to the police headquarters evening of Oct. 31, Monday. “Kagabi po ay inimbitahan na po namin siya pero napilitan na po kami. Pero arrested po siya in short, sir," Beltran said. The murder of Ramgen Revilla was committed late evening of Friday, Oct. 28. — ELR, GMA News