Trillanes denies hand in Bikoy videos

MANILA, Philippines — Peter Joemel Advincula, the man who introduced himself as the hooded “Bikoy” in videos implicating the first family in the narcotics trade, also tried to sell the information to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV last August.

In a privilege speech yesterday, Trillanes denied Bikoy’s allegation that he was the brains behind the series of videos against President Duterte and some members of the first family.

“First and foremost, I vehemently deny Bikoy’s allegation that I am part of any ouster plot against the Duterte regime,” Trillanes said. “l have been confronting Mr. Duterte and his allies on their draconian policies and acts of corruption using only the space that our democracy allows.”

How a series of videos could lead to the ouster of Duterte, as claimed by Bikoy, is simply beyond the realm of logic, according to the senator.

“If the plan is that stupid, it means I did not learn anything from my experience,” Trillanes said in Filipino.

Trillanes and his group Magdalo have embraced the democratic path to pursue government and societal reforms, according to the senator, but he described the present leader as “definitely the worst democratically elected administration in our nation’s history” since his release from detention in December 2010.

Trillanes also revealed that he met Advincula last August, with the assistance of some priests, seeking “sanctuary” as syndicates involved in illegal drugs were supposedly out to liquidate him.

Trillanes recalled having listened to Advincula, but the information was confusing and lacking details, prompting him to set it aside and just forget about it.

The following month, Trillanes said he became busy holding press conferences to inform the public about his arrest, which he said was an order from Duterte. During those days, Trillanes said he never mentioned even a hint about Advincula.

Sometime in February, a group of priests went back to him and gave him documents containing details about the bank accounts of leaders of syndicates, which came from Advincula’s group, including certain Jessmark Acosta and Dan de Vera, according to the senator.

Trillanes said the documents could be the reason why the priests were receiving death threats, which coincided with the President issuing a statement that bishops and priests should be killed.

“Anyway, I had the documents examined by media outfits, investigative journalists and various entities both foreign and local. They said that the validation process might take a while, but if the account details are accurate, the money trail could be traced. So, as far as those documents are concerned, the existence of these syndicates may still be true, depending on the outcome of the validation process later on. They said they would just report this to the public if it is already confirmed,” he said.

The senator also advised the priests to wait for the result of the vetting being conducted by some media outfits and investigative journalists.

“After that, I went on a series of speaking engagements abroad when the ‘Ang Totoong Narcolist’ video series started appearing on social media,” Trillanes said.

“The Senate records would bear me out that I wasn’t in the Philippines during that period. I repeat, I don’t have anything to do with the production of those videos,” he added.

On May 6, Trillanes recalled Advincula came out and some members of the Senate minority block asked whether there is a need to file a resolution asking the Senate to investigate his allegations.

“I myself told my fellows to postpone filing a resolution and instead wait for Bikoy to release more evidence to prove his allegations. Precisely because I still have some reservations regarding his revelations. My fellow members of the minority can attest to this fact,” Trillanes said, adding that Advincula’s effort to link him to the movement to oust Duterte was not new.

“This was done to me before by a bogus witnessed named Mina. She was referred to me sometime in early 2017, if I’m not mistaken, because she was said to expose information about illegal drugs,” he added.

As a matter of practice, prospective whistle-blowers were subjected to vetting which was not done to Advincula, according to the senator.

“Mr. President, I stand by my track record here in the Senate. If I am sure about a witness, evidence or accusation, I expose them and I defend them in the Senate. Prospective witnesses who approach us go through a stringent process because if all they have are lies, they can be easily destroyed by the questions of the senators. The fact that I did not release him here means he did not pass in our vetting arm. That’s the reason why in the several investigations that I had been part of, through the mercy of God, I haven’t been burned in what I expose,” Trillanes said.

The senator formally turned over the videos and documents to the secretariat as part of his privilege speech.

Absent at hearing

Meanwhile, Trillanes was absent at the start of the hearing yesterday of the rebellion case which the Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 150 has revived.

Only his lawyer Reynaldo Robles attended the hearing at the sala of presiding Judge Elmo Alameda yesterday afternoon, explaining that he waived his client’s court appearance.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) presented assistant state prosecutor Mary Jane Sytat as witness, who presented documents related to another case of coup d’etat also slapped at Trillanes.

The court set the next hearing on the reopened rebellion case at 2 p.m. on July 22, when Trillanes’ camp would cross-examine Sytat.

The DOJ asked the court to issue an arrest warrant and a hold departure order for a rebellion case previously filed against Trillanes due to the military takeover of The Peninsula Manila hotel in November 2007, which Trillanes led along with members of Magdalo.

The agency made the measure after Duterte revoked the amnesty given to Trillanes in 2011 through Proclamation 572 released last September.

Another court in Makati City, RTC Branch 148, dismissed the DOJ’s similar plea in the hope of reviving the coup d’etat case against Trillanes in relation to the so-called Oakwood mutiny in 2003. The case was also covered by the amnesty granted by former president Benigno Aquino III. – With Ghio Ong