In recent news about the development of the state of the Reproductive Health Bill in the country, twenty Philippine senators signed an approval of the said bill. This signing of an approval means a great development for the RH Bill for it means that the bill is actually going somewhere and not neglected totally. In a previous blog entry, I listed down the name of the Senators who signed the said approval. In the next few blog entries, I will be discussing the profiles of these Senators and probably state why they signed the approval. For today, we will be looking at Senator Bong Revilla, Jr.
Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr. was born on September 25, 1966, with the real name of Jose Marie Mortel Bautista. He is a movie and television actor turned politician and senator. His parents are Jose Acuña Bautista, also an actor who is better known as Ramon Revilla, and Azucena Mortel.
When he became an actor, he had the screen name of Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr. to be more associated with his actor father. His heyday was during the 1980s and 1990s, when he made a career out of doing numerous action movies. In the past few years, though still doing action movies while in senate, he also has done a number of television sitcoms for GMA-7.
His political career started in 1995, when former NBI Director Epimaco Velasco asked Bong Revilla to be his running mate in the local elections of their hometown of Cavite. They successfully won as governor and vice governor, respectively. In 1998 though, Epimaco Velasco resigned when he was appointed the Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government. Bong Revilla assumed the position of governor, and this went on until he was elected the position in the 1998 elections. He was appointed by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 202 as the Chairman of the Videogram Regulatory Board (now Optical Media Board). In 2004, because his father couldn’t run anymore for a senatorial seat, he ran for the position under the K-4 coalition and won having received the second highest number of votes.
Bong Revilla is married to Jesusa Victoria Bautista Revilla, or more commonly knows as actress Lani Mercado. His wife Lani is currently the Representative of the 2nd District of Cavite. Together, they have six children: Leonard Bryan Revilla, Jose Lorenzo Revilla, Inah Felicia Revilla-Del Rosario, Maria Viktoria Gianna Revilla, Maria Franzel Loudette Revilla, and Ramon “Ram” Vicente Revilla.
Bong Revilla though is not the only family member who is into politics. His younger brother, Strike Revilla, is the incumbent mayor of Bacoor, Cavite, their hometown. His younger sister, Andrea Bautista-Ynares, is married to Casimiro “Jun” Ynares III, the Governor of Rizal.
As a well known actor and politician, Bong Revilla should use his status to inform more people about the benefits and the good side of the Reproductive Health Bill. I mean, he did not sign that approval if he does not believe in the change the RH Bill can bring about. He should take time and opportunity to do this so that more people will be enlightened about the RH Bill.
No comments:
Post a Comment