Ex-senator Ramon Revilla Sr. succumbs to heart failure
Former senator Ramon B. Revilla Sr. passed away Friday afternoon. He was 93.
A statement released by the office of his son and namesake, Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. said Revilla Sr. succumbed to heart failure at 5:20 p.m. Friday.
“He is now free from physical pain and is in the loving arms of our
Creator. Thank you very much for the love and prayers, as we ask for continuous prayers for the eternal repose of his soul,” the statement added.
Sen. Bong first broke the news of his father’s passing on Facebook Friday afternoon.
“Wala na po ang tatay ko... Wala na po ang tatay ko (My father is gone… My father is gone), please pray for him,” said
a weeping Sen. Bong during a Facebook live video post.
In the short video, relatives were seen crying for the Revilla patriarch.
Sen. Bong has consistently asked for prayers since his father was rushed to the hospital last May 31, after experiencing difficulty in breathing and “somewhat unresponsive.” He was aided with a ventilator while under a “strict observation.”
The morning after, he said Revilla Sr. got better and was in a stable condition.
Revilla Sr. was also spared from heart procedure after his angiogram yielded good results, with Bong saying his father may no longer need the ventilator to help him breathe.
On June 14, Sen. Bong announced that his father was transferred from intensive care unit to a regular room.
“I am blessed to be able to say that he’s in stable condition, pero siyempre he still needs all the prayers he can get to make a full recovery,” the senator wrote after visiting Revilla Sr. last June 17.
On June 25, Sen. Bong said his, “Daddy is going through a rough time.”
The 93-year-old former senator and actor had been in and out of the hospital due to various health concerns.
In 2018, he was taken to the hospital due to aspiration pneumonia. The previous year, he suffered from pneumonia and occult gastro-intestinal bleeding, and had to undergo gastroscopy and colonoscopy. Before that, he also underwent “transarterial aortic valve replacement.”
Revilla served as a senator in the 9th to 12th Congress, from 1992 to 2004.