No 2nd visit to Jolo? ‘We don’t want to be OA’ – Bong Revilla

MANILA, Philippines – Detained senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr will not seek a second furlough from the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan for a hospital visit to Cavite Vice Governor Jolo Revilla, since the latest medical advisory on his son is “encouraging,” the family spokesperson said on Wednesday, March 4.

Lawyer Raymond Fortun said in an interview on ANC that Revilla reached the decision after he got the results of the vice governor’s latest CT scan, conducted Tuesday night  at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center.

“It [CT scan result] was encouraging enough that Senator Revilla decided not to push through with his plan to ask the Sandiganbyan for another furlough. Senator Revilla felt that Jolo’s condition was not urgent enough to require his presence for today,” Fortun said.

Asked whether the senator should have sought another visit to give his son moral support  to help in his recovery, the lawyer explained the Revilla family’s position: “Certainly. [Pero] Ayaw na lang naming maging OA. Ganoon na lang siguro. (We don’t want to be OA. Let’s put it that way).”

He added: “We were given a lot of leeway by the court yesterday. Nagkita na ang dalawa (The father and son already saw each other). They had some very tender moments together, that would already be enough….So Senator Revilla said we don’t want to  put too much pressure on the court, we don’t want the court thinking that we’re taking advantage of the situation.”

‘Jolo safer out of ICU’

Fortun said that the discovery of the vice governor’s acute distended abdomen had raised concern among his doctors, who decided to subject him to a third CT scan at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, March 3 – hours ahead of the original schedule of 8 am on Wednesday, March 4.

He said that the Asian Hospital is supposed to release a medical update on Wednesday morning but “unofficially, the results are encouraging, it wasn’t as bad as they thought.”

“The condition was more encouraging than it was yesterday,” Fortun said.

The lawyer had told reporters on Tuesday, March 3, that the vice governor’s condition was “deteriorating,” citing the development on the distended abdomen. This had prompted the senator to initially consider seeking court permission to allow him a second visit on Wednesday.

Fortun also volunteered an explanation on why the vice governor was transferred from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to a regular room, when he was supposed to be in “critical condition” – a point that was criticized by some netizens.

He said that the Revilla family made the request because they feared that the vice governor would be exposed to “highly dangerous pathogens” at the ICU. Fortun said that the younger Revilla developed pneumonia while he was in the ICU.

“This is probably a misconception of some people that when in the ICU, the treatment is better, the medication is better. But it’s not very accurate. The treatment is intensive, there are round the clock nurses…in case there’s a problem, but it cannot be denied by any doctor that there are a lot of pathogens inside the ICU because some of the patients there have to take some very broad spectrum medication,” Fortun said.

He added: “Medyo mas delikado (It’s risky) actually for a patient whose immune system is medyo degrading…to be in the ICU. That’s the reason why, when the Revilla family requested the doctors to have Jolo transferred to a private room, the doctors themselves consented not because Jolo was actually improving, but the truth here is that he would now be able avoid any dangerous germs or pathogens that is inside an ICU.” 

On Tuesday, Fortun explained that the vice governor was transferred to a regular private room since the ICU allows only limited guests, and the Revilla family did not want to inconvenience the other ICU patients.

The vice governor accidentally sustained a gunshot wound on his chest on Saturday, February 28, while cleaning a gun in his home. He has been confined at the hospital since then.

Senator Revilla is detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame over plunder and graft charges in connection with the multi-billion peso pork barrel scam.  – Rappler.com