“My father is gone. Please pray for him.”
These were the only words uttered by Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. when he went live on Facebook on Friday afternoon to announce the death of his father, Ramon Revilla Sr.
The 93-year-old movie icon-turned-politician was taken to a hospital in late March but then was reported to be in a stable condition in June. On Thursday, however, Revilla Jr. asked for prayers for his father, whom he said was “going through a rough time.”
In a statement he posted on social media, Revilla Jr. said their family’s patriarch succumbed to heart failure at 5:20 in the afternoon.
“He is now free from physical pain and in the loving arms of our Creator,” Revilla Jr. said.
Revilla Sr. had a stroke in 2008 and underwent angioplasty. He underwent another procedure related to heart disease in 2017.
Born on March 8, 1927 in Imus, Cavite, as Jose Acuña Bautista, Revilla Sr. had an expansive career in showbiz with more than 70 films to his name. He began as an action star in the ‘50s before going into government service as a senior intelligence officer, with the rank of major, at the Bureau of Customs from 1965 to 1972.
Returning to showbiz in the ‘70s, Revilla starred in a series of films popularizing the agimat (amulet) of Filipino folklore with his portrayal of fictional and real-life characters such as Nardong Putik (1972) and Pepeng Agimat (1973).