Jolo apologizes to Bong in visit

MANILA, Philippines - Cavite Vice Gov. Jolo Revilla wept and embraced his father as he apologized for the “accidental” shooting incident in their Ayala Alabang residence, the family’s spokesman said yesterday.

Lawyer Raymund Fortun came out of the private room at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa City to speak to reporters, who were barred from entering the hospital compound during the visit of Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.

Fortun said Jolo apologized and his father replied, “It’s all right, son.”

Doctors said Jolo’s condition is not improving and he is scheduled to undergo a CT scan, Fortun said.

He said the bullet, which hit Jolo’s right chest and exited through his back, had caused trauma in his lungs and doctors are closely monitoring any sign of infection.

He also stood pat on his earlier statement that the shooting was accidental and not self-inflicted.

Sen. Revilla boarded a white van and arrived at the hospital escorted by five police patrol vehicles and two policemen on motorbikes at about 2:10 p.m. yesterday, after the Sandiganbayan had granted his request to be allowed to visit his son.

But instead of giving the lawmaker just a three-hour furlough, as was Revilla’s request in his motion, the anti-graft court’s First Division allowed him five hours, from 3 to 8 p.m.

Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr., spokesman of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said members of the Headquarters Support Service, Highway Patrol Group, National Capital Region Police Office’s Public Safety Battalion and the Muntinlupa City police station escorted the senator. The convoy left Camp Crame at around 1:30 p.m.

 – With Michael Punongbayan, Cecille Suerte Felipe