Tears of a Lost Love – Janelle Manahan’s Ordeal

Janelle Manahan, girlfriend of the late Ramgen Bautista Revilla as well as a victim herself and a prime witness to the murder, had recently written a poem for her boyfriend days after the murder on Oct. 28 in BF Homes, Parañaque City.

Janelle’s father, Julius Manahan, said that she suddenly asked for a piece of paper and a marker on November 1 in spite of her difficulties in speaking. Then she started writing down her thoughts about their late boyfriend Ram Revilla.

According to Current Events in Philippines, Janelle was shot in the face and stabbed in both sides of her chest during the incident. And in spite all that, she was still able to write down a poem for her boyfriend, while she’s still unaware that her boyfriend was already dead.

“When she wrote that, she had not yet been informed of Ramgen’s death. Later, we told her what happened but we still try our best, even now, to evade her questions,” said the father.

The Poem

The poem did not name anyone nor specify the details of what happened that night, but the theme seemed to point to the tragedy.

“Same characters, same plot; different stories, different setups.

“My days and nights have been like this

Thinking what could have I done differently so

None of these exist

I wanna cry, I wanna cry so bad

But what’s the point

When there’s no UNDO button

To make it all alright”

“I had a hard time reading that poem. At that time, I almost slipped and told her that Ramgen was gone,” said Julius. “She has always been expressive even as a child. She always wrote poems before. But I was just surprised about this poem,” he said.

It was only in November 5, 4 days after she wrote that poem, that the family told her of the news that her boyfriend died in the murder. This is because “she needs to know.”

Grief of a Loss

“When she heard that Ramona and RJ were tagged as suspects by the police, she was shocked and she cried. But when she found out about Ram, she cried so hard that it triggered a nosebleed,” Julius said.

According to Current Events in Philippines, Janelle underwent an operation on Nov. 7 to reconstruct the four fractures in her face. Three days after the operation, her face was still swollen—“bloated” as described by her father. “The doctors had to open her mouth wide for the operation. There are occasional pangs of pain, but we give her pain relievers. We try to be strong for her,” the father said.

The Manahan family, however, said thanks to senator Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. who shouldered the hospital expenses. In an earlier interview, Julius said the family was willing to help in the investigation “to give Ram and Janelle justice.”