Revilla to surrender Friday as soon as arrest warrant is served

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. said he would surrender to the Sandiganbayan first thing on Friday once the arrest warrant is issued over his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.

In a television interview Thursday night, an emotional Revilla, wearing a shirt that reads “The Lord is on my side,” said he would surrender to the anti-graft court on Friday.

“Kaysa naman nandito tayo, pero parang nakakakulong na (Instead of staying here, where it feels like prison already),” Revilla said in the interview.

He added the arrest is driven by “vicious” politics.

Senator Bong Revilla INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

“Sana bigyan kami ng pagkakataon na bigyan kami ng side. Hindi kami nabigyan ng patas na pagkakataon. Siguro ang pinakamagandang pagkakataon itong sa korte (I hope they give us a chance to air our side. We weren’t given an equal opportunity. I guess the best chance is this one at the court),” he added.

He describes it as a “nightmare” having to wait for the issuance of an arrest warrant.

Atty. Renato Bocar, the anti-graft’s executive clerk of court, said Revilla need not surrender to the Sandiganbayan because he could proceed to the police after the arrest warrant.

The Sandiganbayan first division on Thursday said it found probable cause to issue an arrest warrant over Revilla’s plunder charges. But the issuance was deferred for Friday pending the signature of division chair Associate Justice Efren Dela Cruz.

The Ombudsman in indicting the lawmaker said the movie actor-turned-senator collected P224.512 million kickbacks from 2006 to 2010 from the alleged illegal disbursement of his Priority Development Assistance Funds.

Revilla faces one count of plunder and 16 counts of graft.

Also charged are Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada, as well as alleged mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

The pork barrel scam is an elaborate scheme of allegedly diverting billions of public funds to ghost projects for kickbacks.

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