Aquino’s intervention sought to bring Ramona Bautista home to face trial

Ramona Bautista.

MANILA, Philippines—The camp of Janelle Manahan is hoping to have an audience with President Benigno Aquino to seek help in repatriating Maria Ramona Bautista, one of the suspects in the killing of Manahan’s boyfriend and Ramona’s brother, actor Ramgen Bautista.

In a letter sent to the President on Friday through Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, Manahan noted that Ramona remained in Turkey despite the cancellation of her passport in view of the murder charge she faces in the Philippines.

“With the cancellation of Ms Bautista’s passport, the status of her stay in Turkey, or in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, should be that of an illegal alien and she could thus be subjected to summary deportation proceedings if so sought by the Philippine government from either Turkey or Cyprus or the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” the letter said.

Ramona, who is married to Turkish national Engin Tuna Bulbuloglu, left the country days after the killing of Bautista in their Parañaque City residence on October 28 last year.

She took a November 4 flight to Hong Kong and wrote Istanbul as her final destination in her departure card. She has since reportedly travelled to neighboring Cyprus to evade Turkish journalists.

While the Philippines has no extradition treaty with either Turkey or Cyprus, Manahan’s camp urged Aquino to talk to his Turkish and Cypriot counterparts to request Ramona’s repatriation.

“We are of the legal opinion that there is no legal impediment that would proscribe His Excellency from making this formal request on the Turkish and Cypriot heads of state through the simple expedient of issuing a presidential letter-request and relayed through the appropriate diplomatic channels,” added the letter, which was prepared with the help of lawyer Argee Guevarra.

“Such presidential request by your Office could even serve as a seminal act to commence the forging of an extradition treaty between the Philippines and said countries and would serve well in the shaping of international customs,” it added.

Earlier this year, Judge Fortunito Madrona, who handles the Bautista case at the Parañaque Regional Trial Court, ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel Ramona’s passport and issued a hold departure order for the accused.

Manahan’s camp had been successful in asking the Interpol to place Ramona on its red notice or most wanted list, which Guevarra described as  “the closest thing to an international warrant of arrest.”

Genelyn Magsaysay, the mother of Ramona and Ramgen, assailed Manahan’s camp for going to the Interpol, saying Ramona’s inclusion on the list was premature since she still had a pending appeal in the local court.