A Facebook user received threats over his post showing him holding on to his belongings from senatorial aspirant Bong Revilla as he took a photo with him.
The photo was first posted on Facebook on April 11. It showed him with former senator Revilla, along with the latter’s supporters at a campaign rally in a shopping mall. The exact location was not indicated.
It was captioned, “Wag po kayong mag-alala. Wala naman pong nawala. Mahigpit po pagkakahawak ko sa wallet ko.”
The supposed-to-be witty post soon made rounds on Facebook and Twitter.
Days later, the user said in another post that while he gathered mostly “positive comments,” he claimed to have received threats and hateful messages in the comments section.
Part of his lengthy post said:
“I am not sorry because this is what I believe. I am not sorry because I actually hate this person. I am not sorry because I don’t want him to win,” he said, referring to Revilla.
“Nevertheless, I am sorry because I stepped down on someone’s feelings and right. I always tell myself that everyone deserves a second chance. I always believe that we have no right to do bad things to the people who have done it or is doing it. And that belief didn’t pop-out of my mind when I was creating this post. And I have to made peace with that,” he added.
Both posts have now been deleted. The user also suddenly switched his account to private mode.
Revilla is running under Sara Duterte’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago slate in the upcoming May elections.
Revilla placed sixth with 36% voter preference in the latest senatorial survey released by the Social Weather Stations.
Plunder and graft case
In December 2018, the former senator was acquitted from plunder charges arising from the pork barrel scam in an unexpected decision by the Sandiganbayan.
Revilla was accused of receiving P224.5 million in kickbacks from his Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations to fake foundations or organizations owned by the alleged mastermind, Janet Lim Napoles.
His former chief-of-staff Richard Cambe, however, was convicted.
The pork barrel scam was uncovered in 2013 when Benhur Luy accused Napoles of funneling funds from congressional PDAF to “ghost projects” of fraudulent non-government organizations.
Aside from Revilla, former lawmakers Jinggoy Estrada and Juan Ponce Enrile were allegedly the primary beneficiaries of the scam.
The three of them are seeking a comeback in the Senate under the HNP party.
