Ramgen Revilla’s mom had taste for luxury

Although jobless, she has that taste for luxury. Genelyn Magsaysay, the mother of murdered Ramgen Jose Bautista, bought on credit numerous designer bags from Louis Vuitton and Prada as well as jewelry from Tiffany.

Accountants of former Sen. Ramon Revilla Sr., Ramgen’s father, were shocked after receiving a credit card billing statement detailing Magsaysay’s luxurious purchases.

This explains Magsaysay’s huge credit card debt that Ramgen reportedly told his father about before he was killed, a source close to the Revillas said.

“Genelyn does not have her own credit card but she owns an extension of the account of Ramon Sr.,” the source said in a phone interview.

“This means she could not have kept secret her purchases because Ramon Sr. is the principal holder of the credit card,” the source added.

It was not clear whether Revilla Sr. learned of the luxury purchases bought on credit from Ramgen or from his accountants.

But if Magsaysay reportedly acquired the P2.3 million debt in six months, this is because the cheapest Louis Vuitton bag can already cost hundreds of thousands of pesos.

While Prada bags might cost less, the cheapest bag can still run up to some tens of thousands of pesos.

Tiffany jewelry, on the other hand, is also expensive.

The source failed to give an accounting of the luxury items and their prices.

However, the source recalled that Magsaysay purchased 10 bags from Louis Vuitton alone.

The source said that when Revilla Sr. confronted Magsaysay about the purchases, she told her partner she was selling the luxury bags to earn extra money.

That Magsaysay failed to collect from her supposed buyers apparently angered Revilla Sr. even more, hence he ordered that her credit card extension be canceled.

A relative of the former senator told Inquirer earlier that he sends P290,000 a month to Magsaysay as allowance for their nine children.

Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.’s talent manager Lolit Solis on Friday went on record that Ramgen received an extra P50,000 from his father supposedly as dole-out to political supporters.

At the time of his death, Ramgen was being groomed as the family’s next generation politician after his father and half-brothers Revilla Jr. and Strike Revilla.

Sibling rivalry with Magsaysay’s other children has been eyed as one of the motives behind Ramgen’s murder.

Apart from the P50,000 extra he received from his father, Ramgen also had control over the monthly allowance for him and his siblings at the time of his death.

“It was actually Genelyn who used to handle the money for her children. But she was always unable to stretch the funds for a month. There would be instances when she would return to Revilla Sr.’s office 20 days after receiving the latest allowance and ask for next month’s allotment,” Solis said.