Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. smiles as his mugshots were taken in Camp Crame.
PNP-PIO, witnessed by family members, lawyers and supporters, after he voluntarily surrendered to the Sandiganbayan on FridayThe Court has manifested that it has taken Sen. Revilla into custody because he voluntarily surrendered and that there is no need to serve the Warrant of Arrest. The booking process involved physical and medical examination, fingerprinting and mugshot. (PNP-PIO)
The Sandiganbayan will act soon on whether Sen. Jinggoy Estrada would also be arrested for plunder, a non-bailable offense as his colleague, Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. was officially booked and jailed in Camp Crame yesterday.
The anti-graft court’s 5th Division yesterday said it will now decide whether there is probable cause to place Estrada and 25 people co-accused in his plunder and graft cases under arrest.
Wrapping up the court’s hearing after 10 minutes, 5th Division chairman, Justice Roland Jurado, denied defense motions to suspend the proceedings, including the issuance of arrest warrants. The court also turned down defense lawyers’ request to formally comment again on the Ombudsman’s charges.
“We’re submitting this case for resolution,” Jurado said.
Also present were Justices Alexander Gesmundo and Alex Quiroz, who was temporarily assigned to fill up the division’s vacant third seat.
Lawyers representing Estrada, Janet Lim-Napoles and Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos and some other accused no longer argued their case, and the hearing was concluded in 10 minutes.
Unruffled
Dina Garin, a non-uniformed staffer of the Philippine National Police, gently clapped her hands as she saw Bong Revilla being led by police to a building at Camp Crame where he was officially booked for plunder and graft charges.
“This is how we should treat politicians who steal the people’s money,” said Garin. “I clapped my hands because as a taxpayer, I’m happy that somebody is being made accountable for stealing the taxes I pay. This is good for the country,” she told the Inquirer.
Wearing a white shirt and dark pants, Revilla looked unruffled as he alighted from the vehicle of Director Benjamin Magalong, chief of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, who fetched him from the Sandiganbayan around noon after he turned himself in to court officials to avoid being handcuffed.
The senator’s wife, Cavite Rep. Lani Revilla, their children and other relatives joined him as he underwent booking procedures at the PNP multipurpose building at Camp Crame.
PNP spokesman, Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, said Revilla and members of his family were emotional as personnel of the PNP Crime Laboratory took his fingerprints.
“The senator appeared to be trying to hold back his tears while his relatives were crying during the booking procedure. It seems he was trying to stay composed throughout the process,” Sindac said.
But in the photographs released by the PNP public information office showed Revilla smiling as his mug shots were being taken.
The lawmaker, a popular action star like his father and namesake, former Sen. Ramon Revilla Sr., was also smiling during the medical checkup.
He also smiled and waved his hands at the members of the media when he was brought to the Custodial Center.
Sindac said Revilla’s blood pressure was 140 over 90 while his pulse rate was 80 beats per minute when police doctors checked his condition at 1:10 p.m. “His blood pressure was slightly high. He’s been tired since (Thursday) night,” Sindac said in a press briefing.
Sindac told reporters the PNP decided to temporarily place Revilla’s detention room under the control and supervision of the CIDG in compliance with the anti-graft court’s order. He noted that the Sandiganbayan’s commitment order stated that the lawmakers should be under the custody of the CIDG.
However, Sindac said the CIDG did not have a detention facility to accommodate high-profile detainees like Revilla.
“For the meantime, that portion of the Custodial Center will be temporarily guarded by CIDG personnel,” he said.
An hour after the lawmaker was brought to the detention facility, Lani Revilla and her daughter emerged from the jail compound and told reporters that her husband was suffering from migraine.
“We need to buy medicines for his migraine. We will ask the PNP how we can make the temperature inside the detention room bearable,” she said.
Joel Bodegon, Revilla’s lawyer, said they would ask the PNP officials to allow them to bring air-coolers to his client’s cell.
Related Stories: