Bong Revilla to plead for furlough to visit ailing father

Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

The lawyers of detained Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. will ask the Sandiganbayan to allow him to visit his father, former Senator Ramon Revilla Sr., who was rushed to the hospital Saturday.

Revilla family’s spokesperson Atty. Raymond Fortun said they would file a motion on Monday seeking permission for the younger Revilla to visit his 88-year-old father for “a few hours.”

“Any amount of time na maibibigay ng husgado ay handa naman si Senator Bong… Kahit anong oras na ibigay ng husgado ay tatangapin ng pamilya,” (Senator Bong and his family are ready for any amount of time that the court would grant) Fortun said in a press conference on Sunday.

But the lawyer said the Revillas would appreciate a three-hour furlough from the Sandiganbayan, similar to what it gave the senator to visit his son, Cavite Vice Governor Jolo Revilla, after the latter accidentally shot himself in March.

On the current condition of the Revilla patriarch, Fortun said that he was out of intensive care at the St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City.

Fortun said the family did not know how long the former senator would stay in the hospital.

“He needs to stay at the hospital to monitor his condition. He is now in a private room ,” Fortun said.

Revilla, who served as a senator from 1992 to 2004, was confined at the hospital’s intensive care unit because of “metabolic encephalopathy secondary to dehydration and aspiration pneumonia.”

He was also hospitalized last month due to pneumonia. With a report from Maricar Brizuela, Philippine Daily Inquirer