Bong Revilla ‘sad’ about being an alleged misinformation victim
Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia endorses Alyansa senatorial candidates in One Cebu proclamation rally.
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. told news reporters that he does not have qualms about the results of the 2025 midterm elections.
But he is “sad” that he lost and he is attributing his defeat to the spread of alleged misinformation, particularly regarding the plunder charges he faced before the Sandiganbayan.
Revilla aired his sentiment on Monday in a phone interview with reporters covering the Senate.
The senator said he laments what happened — that he placed 14th at the recent senatorial race — but he is turning his attention now to the quest to seek accountability for all the rumors that were used against him.
“Well, maybe I’m not that depressed. I’m sad, right?” Revilla asked reporters.
He clarified earlier statements made by his lawyer, Raymond Fortun.
“I was saddened by what happened because they were able to make people believe that that was the truth,” Revilla said.
“But as I said, we have to do something. That’s why we really need to file a case against those people who should be held accountable, because we cannot just trick the people,” the senator insisted.
“We have to release the truth so that the youth — and we all know that there are a lot of young voters now — will know it because they were not aware of what happened in the the past years,” the lawmaker aired his belief.
Revilla was referring to the next legal action that his team will now take.
According to Fortun, this entails the filing of cyber libel cases against groups or individuals behind the spreading of alleged wrong information about the senator.
Fortun believes that the rumors about Revilla being required to return an amount of P124.5 million — representing the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) that was misused — cost the senator a spot in the senatorial race.
Revilla was acquitted of plunder in December 2018 when the Sandiganbayan Special First Division ruled that the prosecution was not able to prove his guilt.
The senator was accused of allocating P224 million from his PDAF or the ‘pork barrel’ to bogus non-government organizations owned by convicted businesswoman Janet Napoles.
READ: Bong Revilla acquitted of plunder
Under the Sandiganbayan’s decision, Revilla’s two co-accused in the case — Napoles and his aide Richard Cambe — were convicted of plunder for allowing the transfer of the senator’s PDAF to the Napoles-owned NGOs.
Revilla was acquitted due to a “glaring absence of evidence” that the senator profited from the scam.
However, the Sandiganbayan was vague as to who should return the amount of P124.5 million worth of misused public funds.
It mentioned in the dispositive portion that the “accused” are asked to “solidarily and jointly liable to return to the National Treasury.”
After the anti-graft court came out with the decision, Revilla’s lawyers believed that he is not required to return a part of the PDAF.
The counsels said the decision cited Article 100 of the Revised Penal Code, which states that “every person criminally liable for a felony is also civilly liable.”
Since Revilla was not found criminally liable for plunder, his lawyers insisted that he is also not civilly liable and is, therefore, spared from paying.
READ: Sandigan orders ‘accused’ to return P124-M to nat’l treasury
In a press briefing earlier, Fortun said Revilla was “depressed” about the spread of misinformation, but nevertheless accepts the election results.
The counsel noted that Revilla was one of the first to release a concession statement.
READ: Poised to lose senatorial bid, Revilla says it’s time for unity
“This is the one thing which actually makes him so depressed right now,” Fortun said.
“He is depressed because he feels that he has let down the Filipino people, that he has been deprived of a chance to continue to serve. And that’s why he has to do this,” he added.
Revilla ran under the administration-backed Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate./apl
