Bong Revilla

Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. (real name: Jose Mari Mortel Bautista) is a senator in the 19th Congress, serving a fresh first term until 2025. He was previously elected to the same position in 2004 and 2010, and had to take a break in the 2016 election cycle for being term-limited under the Constitution.

Revilla ranked 11th in the 2019 race for 12 seats – a winning but dismal performance compared to his previous runs. Running for a national post for the first time in 2004, but carrying the name of his outgoing senator father Ramon Revilla Sr., Bong finished with the second highest number of votes. He topped the race when he ran for reelection in 2010. Among other factors, his much lower ranking in the 2019 senatorial election was attributed by political observers in part to his trial and detention over the misuse of his pork barrel over several years.

In 2013, in the middle of Revilla’s second term as senator, a special audit by the Commission on Audit found that the Priority Development Assistance Fund of about a dozen senators, including Revilla, had been channeled to bogus non-governmental organizations in exchange for kickbacks. Plunder and graft cases were filed only against Revilla and two other opposition senators at the time: Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada. Revilla was charged for having received P224 million in bribes.

Revilla was detained starting June 2014, and his trial didn’t start until 2017 due to several postponements his camp requested. On December 7, 2018, the Sandiganbayan acquitted him of plunder in a close vote of 3-2, with the majority giving credence to Revilla’s defense that his signature in the transactions was forged. His chief of staff Richard Cambe and alleged mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles were convicted.

This was despite the testimony of a representative of the Anti-Money Laundering Council that a total amount of P87 million in deposits to the bank accounts of Revilla and his family matched the individual amounts and dates listed in the ledger of pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy, the assistant of Napoles. Revilla also claimed that his wealth came from his earnings as an actor, but these were not reflected in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, which government officials were required to file. The minority who voted to convict Revilla said misuse of funds of that magnitude could not have happened without the knowledge of the senator.

In the 2018 ruling, the Sandiganbayan also ordered the “accused [to] solidarily and jointly” return P124 million to the national treasury. Revilla’s camp has refused to heed the order, saying that his acquittal in the criminal aspect of the case also released him from any civil liability.

In July 2021, already elected back as senator, Revilla was cleared of the 16 remaining graft charges related to the pork barrel scam.

Revilla currently chairs the committee on civil service, government reorganization, and and professional regulation, which explains his bills seeking better benefits or working conditions for government workers. He has also proposed lowering the optional retirement age of government workers from 60 to 56.

He also chairs the public works committee, a position that has been given by Senate leaderships to a Revilla since the time of his father, Ramon Sr. Bong Revilla has chaired this committee in every term he served as senator.

Revilla has followed in his father’s footsteps in both his careers as an actor and a politician. He entered showbusiness in 1983, doing action movies like the ones that made his father popular. He first ran for senator in 2004 when his father’s Senate term was ending. Before this, Revilla served as vice governor (elected 1995), then as governor (elected 1998), of Cavite for one term each, getting special attention and help from President Fidel Ramos’s party, Lakas-NUCD, on both counts. He lost by a considerable margin to Irineo Maliksi when he sought reelection as governor in 2001.

While awaiting the 2004 senatorial election, Revilla was appointed by president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, then his party mate, as chairman of the Videogram Regulatory Board, the precursor of the Optical Media Board.

Revilla is married to actress Lani Mercado (real name: Jesusa Hernandez-Bautista), with whom he has seven children. He has a child with a former girlfriend. His siblings, wife, and children also hold elective positions, making the Revillas the biggest political dynasty in their home province of Cavite to date. He continues to appear in movies and TV series while in public office.