Bong Revilla discharged from hospital after confinement

Former Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. has been discharged from St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig City after being confined due to hypertension and other illnesses.

In a letter addressed to Sandiganbayan First Division chair Associate Justice Efren dela Cruz, Supt. Arnel Apud, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Service Unit wrote that Revilla was discharged from the hospital at about 7:42 p.m. Thursday after undergoing a series of medical and laboratory tests.

He was then brought back to the PNP Custodial Center on the same day, arriving at 8:09 p.m. "with no untoward incident."

Revilla has been detained at the custodial center since 2014.

"Pertinent SOPs (standard operating procedures) and safety measures relative to the transport of person under custody were properly observed," Apud added.

Revilla failed to attend the first day of his plunder trial in connection with the pork barrel scam at the Sandiganbayan on Thursday due to his hospitalization.

Apud, in a letter submitted to the court on Thursday, said that while Revilla was visiting his ailing father, former Senator Ramon Revilla Sr., at the same hospital on Tuesday afternoon, he complained of "difficulty in breathing and dizziness."

The younger Revilla was allowed by the court to visit his father, who underwent a medical procedure for his heart ailment on Monday.

After conducting a series of tests, attending physician Dr. Ruth Marie Divinagracia diagnosed Revilla of having hypertension and excess lipids and uric acid in the blood.

It was then that Divinagracia found it necessary to confine Revilla "for further observation and treatment."

Revilla Jr. is facing plunder and graft charges for allegedly pocketing P224.5 million in kickbacks from channeling his Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations to the bogus non-government organizations of detained businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.

His plunder trial is set every Thursday. — RSJ, GMA News