Revilla to join fellow flood control inmates in same Payatas jail cell

MANILA, Philippines — No special treatment awaits former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. who arrived Tuesday afternoon at Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory in Barangay Payatas, according to authorities.

Revilla, who was allegedly involved in a multimillion ghost flood control project in Bulacan, could soon subsist on a daily P100 food allowance while being mixed in with seven other inmates in a 47-square meter single jail cell with at least five bunk beds without air conditioning. 

The former senator was already told to wear the yellow uniform of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), while he was not allowed to take his civilian clothes, according to the bureau spokesperson Jail Chief Inspector Jayrex Joseph Bustinera. 

“We don’t have a VIP treatment or solitary confinement,” Bustinera said in a phone interview with reporters.

Aboard a light gray van with a government plate, the former senator managed to elude the group of media personnel who had been in a stakeout for several hours. 

Revilla was officially taken into custody at around 2:28 p.m. after attending the processing of his commitment order by the Sandiganbayan Third Division, according to Bustinera.

A number of personalities, including those who introduced themselves as Revilla’s relatives and counsel, later arrived in the scene.

READ: LOOK: Ex-Senator Bong Revilla arrives at Sandiganbayan for processing

To date, Revilla’s camp appealed before Sandiganbayan his custody transfer to the Philippine National Police custodial center in Camp Crame.

READ: Bong Revilla suing spreaders of unreturned ‘pork’ after poll loss

However, pending this appeal, Bustinera said Revilla will remain detained at the Payatas jail’s male dormitory.

Revilla’s co-accused former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, as well as former DPWH officials Arjay Domasig and Juanito Mendoza also arrived at 5:25 p.m. after attending their respective processing of their commitment orders.

The five individuals will together undergo a seven-day quarantine at most as part of standard health protocols for new detainees.

“They will be together not more than seven days for quarantine in a single cell,” Bustinera said in an ambush interview on Tuesday night. 

Only after this procedure could Revilla possibly join the detention cell of seven DPWH officials in Mimaropa, who were also put behind bars in connection with an allegedly anomalous flood control project in Oriental Mindoro, according to Bustinera.

“He (Revilla) will be placed there in a group of cells along with those involved in flood control,” said Bustinera.

To date, he said the Payatas jail facility has 3,612 inmates, including the seven personalities in Oriental Mindoro incident, which constitutes the “general population” where the former senator could soon join.

Revilla and his six coaccused — including the four DPWH engineers and officials — allegedly conspired to release at least P76 million as payment for the project in Purok V, Barangay Bunsuran in Pandi, Bulacan, which was awarded to a private contractor in March 2025, according to Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano.

Revilla surrendered to authorities on Monday night after the Sandiganbayan Third Division issued an arrest warrant for him and six of his coaccused. 

Earlier,  Revilla posted a P90,000 bail before the Sandiganbayan for his graft charge over the Bulacan project, but he will remain in jail as his malversation case is non-bailable.

Meanwhile, other coaccused, namely, a certain Christina Mae del Rosario, was arrested by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Baguio City, while DPWH engineer Emelita Capistrano Juat remains at large. 

“This is saddening. It’s like there’s no due process. But still, I will face this without fear. And I know God won’t abandon me. Because I did nothing wrong. I only ask for your prayers and give my family strength,” Revilla said in Filipino in a video he posted on Facebook on Monday night before he surrendered.

Revilla, together with the late former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, was previously arrested and jailed in 2014 in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

In 2013, Revilla was accused of allocating P224 million from his alleged “pork barrel,” or the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), to bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) owned by convicted businesswoman Janet Napoles.

Under the Sandiganbayan decision in 2018, Revilla’s two co-accused in the case — Napoles and his former aide Richard Cambe — were convicted of plunder for allowing the transfer of the senator’s PDAF to owned NGOs owned by the businesswoman.

Revilla was acquitted due to a “glaring absence of evidence” that the senator profited from the scam. 

However, the antigraft court decision penned by Associate Justice Geraldine Faith Econg, ordered the “accused” in this case to return the P124.5 million in pork barrel funds. /das /jpv/cb