By Filane Mikee Cervantes/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday confirmed that Peter Joemel Advincula, who claimed to be “Bikoy” in the “Ang Totoong Narco-list” videos, was the same man who approached his office in 2016 linking the previous administration to the illegal drug trade.
In a press conference, Sotto showed a sworn affidavit of Advincula executed in 2016 implicating officials from the previous administration, including former President Benigno Aquino III, former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, former Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, and other congressmen and governors to the so-called “Quadrangle” drug syndicate.
Sotto said his political officer, Hutch Altavas, was able to secure the sworn statement from Advincula in December 2016.
Sotto noted that Advincula’s drug allegations in his affidavit were similar to the claims he made in the Bikoy videos and his recent statement at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) linking the family and allies of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to illegal drug trade.
“Nire-review namin ulit, makikita niyo yung pagkahawig dun sa Bikoy series at saka doon sa statement niya in the IBP (We reviewed it again, and you can see that there are similarities in [his claims in] the Bikoy series and his statement in the IBP),” Sotto said.
He compared that both cases had similar employment description for Advincula, identity codes, bank transactions but were tweaked to suit personalities in the current administration.
“Iniba yung script, iniba yung personalidad (Both the script and personalities involved were changed),” Sotto said.
Sotto said this should serve as a “very good lesson” for the IBP and the religious sector to not easily believe false accusations and vet information first.
“Bago mo patulan ang mga bagay na naninira ng kapwa, imbestigahan niyo muna (Before believing things that tarnish the name of others, you must investigate first). You must vet it first,” he said.
Advincula, who sought legal aid from IBP, surfaced a few days after the NBI arrested Rodel Jayme, a freelance website developer in connection with the Bikoy videos.
Advincula claimed he did not know Jayme and denied that he was linked to opposition senatorial slate, Otso Diretso, or any media organizations or lawyers’ groups named in the Oust Duterte matrix.
The five-part video series, called “Ang Totoong Narcolist”, links presidential son and former Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte, former Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go, and presidential son-in-law Manases Carpio to illegal drug syndicates.
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