The Sandiganbayan First Division has again allowed detained former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. to visit his ailing 90-year old father in hospital, his fourth such furlough in a three-month span.
However, Revilla’s furlough this Saturday morning would only last three hours, half the six-hour leave sought by the actor-politician.
The senator, who is detained pending trial for plunder in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam, was permitted to visit his father, former Sen. Ramon Revilla Sr., at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City, from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
As usual, Revilla will shoulder the expenses to be incurred by the Philippine National Police for his security detail. The use of electronic gadgets will be under the control of his security escorts, and media interviews will not be allowed.
According to Revilla’s March 16 motion, his father is suffering from pneumonia and occult gastrointestinal bleeding and is set to undergo gastroscopy and colonoscopy.
Since the procedures “involve considerable risk for a frail 90-year-old man,” Revilla asked the court to allow him to go to the hospital since he felt “deeply considered about the medical condition of his father, who has been in and out of the hospital these past few months.”