SOCIAL media platforms have been burning with commentaries reflecting ordinary people’s sentiments from disbelief to disgust, about the stagecraft showcasing the surrender and detention of the most prominent public servants accused of and indicted for graft and plunder in the P10-billion pork barrel scam in the Philippines.
Last Friday, June 20, Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., was first to voluntarily surrender after the Sandiganbayan ordered the senators’ detention at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Elements of the stagecraft made many observers cringe. First, on the day before his surrender, Revilla wore a shirt with the words from Psalm 118:6, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me” as he faced his supporters in his home in Bacoor, Cavite with cameras to capture the moment.
As ABS-CBN news reported, Revilla was teary-eyed when he said he is ready to be jailed, saying “Handa po akong magpakulong kahit saan ninyo ako ikulong. Wala po akong kasalanan.”
“Bigyan ninyo po kami ng pagkakataong maipagtanggol ang aming sarili sa korte,” he said. “Hindi ko kayang magtraydor sa inyo. Hindi ako umaarte.”
“Sa mga bumabatikos sa amin, pakinggan ninyo naman kami,” Revilla pleaded. “Tandaan ninyo, mahal kayo ni Bong Revilla.”
The cameras immortalized that solemn moment when his supporters prayed over him shortly before he was to leave for the Sandiganbayan to receive his arrest warrant.
Then Bong also visited his father, former Sen. Ramon Revilla Sr., before turning himself in at the Sandiganbayan.
On the day of his surrender, many kababayans were perplexed by Bong Revilla smiling in his mugshots, reminiscent of his pictorials to promote his movies.
“I will rise again,” Sen. Bong Revilla declared, as he turned himself in at the Sandiganbayan. AsiaOne.com described the backdrop of his surrender: “shrieking of his fans and the jostling among photographers and court employees that led to broken glass and shoes getting lost in the mad dash to cover this scene.”
Just like the hero Panday in his movies, Bong Revilla made the bold announcement that his arrest would not stop his plan to run for president in 2016.
And when he was in his special detention cell, media was quick to give airtime to Bong Revilla’s dedicated wife Cavite Congresswoman Lani Mercado, who lamented and expressed concerns about her husband’s situation in his detention cell in Camp Crame.
As ABS-CBN News reported, Revilla complained of migraine due to the extreme heat inside his detention cell.
“Tumataas ang BP (blood pressure) niya kapag mina-migraine siya. Yun ang problema, so we have to control that,” Mercado said in an interview on radio dzMM.
Lani said she has requested the PNP to allow them to bring an air cooler inside her husband’s cell. “Sana mapayagan po yun kahit yung air cooler, para at least lumamig-lamig lalo na pag hapon kasi very humid talaga,” she said.
Lani pointed out that it would be more costly for the PNP if Revilla’s condition worsens since he would have to be rushed to the hospital. “Mas mapapamahal talaga sila kapag may nangyari na emergency [at kailanganing] dalhin pa sa ER (emergency room).”
As all dutiful loving wife would probably do, Lani also bought plastic utensils, biscuits, bread, tissue and clothes for Revilla.
She said Revilla’s food ration last Friday consisted of rice, fried galunggong, and mongo. Revilla asked for his favorite kare-kare and sinampalukang manok the next time she visits him.
Lani Mercado expressed her hope that the court will transfer her husband to another cell or at least allow his doctors to visit him to check his condition.
Meanwhile, Revilla now has a cellmate in the four-door bungalow detention cell in Camp Crame, after Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s voluntary surrender on Monday, June 23.
Before this, Jinggoy surrendered to his father, Manila Mayor and deposed president Joseph Estrada, who turned him over to PNP CIDG chief Police Director Benjamin Magalong at Camp Crame.
Jinggoy insisted he is innocent and said he should be presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
He also reminded his children not be be ashamed of their father’s situation. “Itaas n’yo parin ang noo n’yo, dahil wala akong kasalanan,” Estrada said.
As Balitang America reported: some Philippine senators, including Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said Senate Minority leader Juan Ponce Enrile should not be detained at Camp Crame for humanitarian reasons.
They contend that the 90-year-old Enrile should be granted hospital arrest because of his old age and frail condition.
What do you think?
Should Revilla, Estrada, Enrile, et al. be given special and preferential treatment because they are, after all, public servants who are deemed VIPs in Philippine society?
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
