THE scheduled Senate investigation on Friday, May 10, regarding the allegations presented by Bikoy, the hooded figure in the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos will no longer push through.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday, May 8, Senate Committee on Public Order Senator Panfilo Lacson announced the cancellation of the said Senate hearing noting “enough of this nonsense.”
Bikoy, who was recently identified as Peter Joemel Advincula, claimed in his videos that drug money was funneled into the bank accounts of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s son and former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte.
“We are now recalling the letter of invitation sent to Advincula. Notices will be sent out for the cancellation of the committee hearing on Friday. The problem with asking Bikoy who are the people behind him is if we will believe him,” Lacson said.
In the videos that circulated online, Advincula claimed that the president’s son-in-law Atty. Manases Carpio and former Special Assistant to the President (SAP) and senatorial candidate Christopher Go were also involved in illegal drug activities.
Sotto: Bikoy is not credible
Senate President Vicente Tito Sotto III revealed before the media that Advincula reached out in his office back in 2016 to link former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to a purported drug syndicate.
“Doon sa sinumpaang salaysay niya (Advincula) nung 2016, meron siyang tinatawag na mga patron. Ito yung mga bigshot. Ito yung nasa ibabaw ng drug syndicate according to his description in his affidavit (In Advincula’s sworn statement in 2016, he said that there were patrons. These are the bigshot individuals. These are the people at the top of the drug syndicates according to his description in his affidavit),” Sotto said as reported by The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“Dun sa mga patron na sinasabi, sa listahan, may mga code-code pa siya (Those patrons, in the list, they have codes) former President Benigno Aquino, former DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) Secretary Mar Roxas, former DOJ (Department of Justice) Secretary Leila de Lima,” he added.
Sotto said that Advincula consulted his staff member Hutch Altavaz who documented the entire thing with a sworn affidavit. Altavaz and Sotto said that there are similarities in the 2016 sworn affidavit and the one submitted before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP).
“We pieced this together already. [May] affidavit na ginawa ni Peter Joemel Advincula. Dito sa sinumpaang salaysay niya. Makikita ninyo yung pagkahawig doon sa Bikoy series at saka doon sa statement niya dun sa IBP (We pieced this together already. There is an affidavit made by Peter Joemel Advincula. Here in the sworn statement, you can see the resemblance with the Bikoy series and the sworn statement he submitted to the IBP),” the Senate president said.
The IBP, on one hand, rejected the request for free legal assistance of Advincula.
DOJ: Advincula may be charged with sedition
The Department of Justice may include Peter Joemel Advincula in the inciting to sedition complaint against Rodel Jayme, the supposed website administrator of metrobalita, whom the National Bureau of Investigation took into custody last week.
“The NBI is waiting for Advincula/Bikoy to show up and submit his complaint with supporting evidence against the persons he implicated in the illegal drug trade,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters.
“Should he fail to do so, the DOJ will consider his possible inclusion in Rodel Jayme’s inciting to sedition case or indictment for other criminal charges after proper investigation,” he added as reported by The Philippine Star.
