Bong Revilla

Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. ( /rɛbɪljɑː/ born José Maria Mortel Bautista Jr. on September 25, 1966), also known simply as Bong Revilla, is a Filipino actor, television presenter and politician, who is a Senator of the Philippines. In 2009, he legally changed his surname to Bong Revilla.

Revilla was first elected to the Senate in 2004, succeeding his father. He successfully ran for a second term and topped the senatorial race in 2010. His alleged involvement in the Napoles pork barrel scam led the Sandiganbayan to issue an arrest warrant against him and other co-accused on June 20, 2014. Within hours, Revilla surrendered before the anti-graft court.

Bong Revilla was acquitted of plunder and released on December 7, 2018, but was required to return to the government ‎₱124.5 million (US$2.47 million) in civil liability. He stand accused of 16 counts of graft for allegedly allocating ‎₱517 million (US$10.26 million) of his discretionary funds to bogus foundations.

He was born José Maria Mortel Bautista Jr. to José Acuña Bautista Sr. (also known as Ramón Revilla) and Azucena Mortel. In 1979, he finished his elementary education at Jesus Good Shepherd School in Palico II, Imus, Cavite. He finished his secondary education at Fairfax High School (Los Angeles) at Los Angeles, California, United States in 1982.

He starred in a number of action movies during the 1980s and the 1990s. In a few movies he worked alongside his father, Ramón Sr. He has also appeared in a number of comedy films and television shows with GMA-7.

As a native of Bacoor, Cavite, he made several films focused on his home province.

Vice-Governor and Governor of Cavite

He was invited by former NBI director Epimaco Velasco to be his running mate as vice governor of Cavite. In the 1995 local elections, Velasco and Revilla won as governor and vice governor, beating the tandem of Remulla and Lara.

In February 1998, Velasco resigned as governor of Cavite when he was appointed as secretary of Interior and Local Government replacing then Senatorial candidate Robert Barbers. Revilla assumed as the chief executive of the province.

In the May 1998 local elections, he won a full term for the position of governor.

In his May 2001 reelection bid for governor, he was trounced by then Representative Ayong S. Maliksi by a wide margin.

He returned to his acting career and became a TV actor in GMA-7's sitcom Idol ko si Kap.

Chairman of the Videogram Regulatory Board

In 2002, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed Revilla as Chairman of the Videogram Regulatory Board (now Optical Media Board). He was given a Plaque of International Recognition for Efforts Against Piracy by the Motion Picture Association of America on July 23, 2003 and the Huwarang Lingkod Bayan Award by the Consumers League of the Philippines Foundation, Inc. on October 25, 2003.

Senator

In February 2004, Revilla resigned as Chairman of the VRB and recommended Edu Manzano as his replacement. His father, Ramon Revilla, ended his term as senator on June 30, 2004. Revilla Sr. was elected senator in 1992, reelected in 1998, and could not run for third term according to the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Revilla ran for the position of Senator under the administration K-4 coalition. He won and received the second highest number of votes from the national electorate.

He ran again for the post of Senator in the 2019 elections. As part of his campaign, Revilla released a campaign video that featured himself and a group of children and his son Jolo Revilla dancing to budots.

Potential presidential bid

Despite the weakness of the Lakas party due to the arrest of Rep. Gloria Arroyo, Revilla assumed the chairmanship of the party replacing Arroyo, and was to potentially run as standard bearer of the party in the 2016 presidential election. On Election Day May 13, 2013, the Cavite PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation raided the house of Revilla, and according to Revilla, he was harassed by the group of Sen. Panfilo Lacson and former Gov. Ayong Maliksi.

Involvement in the pork barrel scam

After the 2013 elections, he was allegedly involved in the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, along with then Senate Pres. Juan Ponce Enrile, and Senator Jinggoy Estrada, contributing to entrepreneur Janet Lim-Napoles' alleged bogus foundations.

The Commission on Audit, in its two-year investigation released on August 16, 2013, reported on the questionable release of the Priority Development Assistance Fund by 12 senators, including Revilla, and 180 representatives of Congress. A month later, the National Bureau of Investigation filed plunder cases against Revilla, Enrile, and Estrada.

On January 20, 2014, in his privilege speech to the Senate, he criticized the Aquino administration, revealing that he was talked to by the President along with then-DOTC Sec. Mar Roxas and Budget Sec. Florencio "Butch" Abad to convince him to convict the Chief Justice, Renato Corona.

The Office of the Ombudsman, on April 1, 2014, found probable cause to indict Revilla, Enrile, Estrada, and Napoles with plunder, and filed plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan on June 6, 2014.

On June 9, 2014, Revilla delivered a second privilege speech entitled "Salamat, Kaibigan", as charges were filed against him in the Sandiganbayan. On June 20, the Sandiganbayan issued a warrant of arrest against Revilla and more than 30 others. Revilla proceeded to the Sandiganbayan to surrender, and he chose to be detained at the PNP custodial center at Camp Crame.

The Sandiganbayan suspended Revilla from public office and his senior aide Richard Cambe on August 4, 2014, for 90 days. Revilla's bank accounts were frozen in 2015 as a consequence of the alleged involvement in the scam.

His trial for plunder was rescheduled several times due to various motions filed by Revilla. The trial finally began on June 22, 2017.

Ramon "Bong" Bong Revilla Jr. married Lani Mercado (Jesusa Victoria Hernandez-Bautista), representative of the 2nd District of Cavite, which comprises only Bacoor City, in 1987 in a civil wedding. They have six children, namely: Leonard Bryan Bautista (born in November 1986), Jose Lorenzo Bautista III (Ramon "Jolo" Revilla III, born in March 1988), Vice Governor of Cavite, Inah Felicia Bautista-Del Rosario (born in October 1989) married to Vince del Rosario, Ma. Viktoria Gianna Bautista (born in August 1995), Ma. Franzel Loudette Bautista (born in October 1997) and Ramon Vicente "Ramboy/RV" Bautista (born December 1998).

Revilla is the 60th child of former Philippines senator Ramon Revilla Sr and fourth child of Azucena Mortel Bautista He is the older brother of Strike Revilla, the mayor of their hometown of Bacoor, Cavite and his sister Andrea Bautista-Ynares is currently married to former Rizal Governor Casimiro "Jun" Ynares III. His younger half-brother Ram Revilla, also an actor, was murdered in his home, and declared dead in the early hours of October 29, 2011. He was 23 years old.

Acquittal and political and showbiz comeback

In 2018, Revilla through his wife Mayor Lani Mercado filed his candidacy for Senator, with the endorsement of Presidential Daughter and de facto First Lady Sara Duterte, who is the leader of the political coalition Hugpong ng Pagbabago in order to include him to her 14 (later 16)-candidate slate for the Senate election in May 2019, which was criticized by the opposition coalition "Tindig Pilipinas" due to his involvement in the PDAF scam with Jinggoy Estrada. On December 7, 2018, the Sandiganbayan acquitted Revilla on the PDAF scam, but he paid a PHP 480,000 bail for sixteen counts of graft cases, but his chief aide Richard Cambe and the PDAF scam mastermind Janet Napoles was convicted.

Revilla is returning to GMA Network after being arrested for five years. He will be part of his upcoming drama fantasy series for kids entitled Agimat ng Agila, alongside Sanya Lopez, Allen Dizon, and Roi Vinzon. It was supposed to replace Daig Kayo ng Lola Ko because of Gloria Romero's health issues, but she was recovered from vertigo.