Palace tells Advincula to substantiate allegations vs opposition
Malacanang said on Thursday Peter Joemel Advincula, who claims to be "Bikoy," should substantiate his recent allegations against the Liberal Party, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and other opposition personalities of being behind the video series, "Ang Totoong Narco List," which came out prior to the midterm elections.
The Philippine National Police ( PNP) presented to media Advincula at its Camp Crame headquarters in Quezon City on Thursday.
Advincula retracted his earlier allegations that President Rodrigo Duterte and some members of his family and former close aide and Senator-elect Christopher "Bong" Go were involved in the illegal drug trade.
He apologized to the Dutertes and to Go as he claimed that LP and Trillanes were behind the video series.
Advincula, the hooded man in the videos, also mentioned the name of Vice President Leni Robredo who would benefit in the Duterte ouster plot.
All the personalities whom Advincula mentioned denied the allegations.
Panelo said Advincula should submit an affidavit and proof regarding his latest claim.
"He has to substantiate. He has to submit proof. He mentioned several personalities. He mentioned several conversations by way of telephone/text messages or whatever means of communication. He mentioned certain places where they met, he mentioned Ateneo, De La Salle. These can easily be validated," he said.
"He mentioned many names. For one, he has to submit a sworn statement. So we'd rather have the PNP do its job," said Panelo, who is also the chief presidential legal counsel.
When Advincula came out, accusing Dutertes' children and Go of their link in narcotics trade, Panelo had said that it would be a waste of public funds to investigate his claims.
Asked why the PNP is now probing Advincula's allegations, Panelo said, "Now that he comes clean, that's a different story because he's been pointing already to many people. It's like, it's a huge grand design. And in fairness to those people he pointed, you better substantiate; otherwise, you will be the one to be sued," he said.
He also said that the difference was that the Palace knew that the First Family was not into illegal drug trade.
He added that Advincula's latest statement "I think is the onset of unmasking the truth behind the 'Ang Totoong Narco List' video, which we said before as a black propaganda intended to discredit the President and his family and to besmirch their reputation; with the intention of course of making the people lose trust on this President."
Meanwhile, Davao City 1st District Representative-elect Paolo Duterte said Advincula's latest claim proved his earlier statement that Trillanes was behind Bikoy's videos.
"Without a doubt, as I have said before, Senator Antonio Trillanes was behind it. And now that many names have also surfaced, to include Sen. Risa Hontiveros and several lawyers, I believe a proper investigation is in order," he said.
He said that from the very start, it was clear that the Bikoy videos were fabricated "with a narrative taken straight from the playbook of people whose desire is to destroy our name and our reputation."
"All the lies presented were also meant to crush the trust of the Filipino people in the authorities and inspire public disgust against the government - truly the handiwork of people who want to undermine the Duterte administration," the presidential son added.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, whose husband Manases Carpio was also earlier named in the narco list video, said that Bikoy was a scam created by people who oppose the Duterte administration.
"This group is so disorganized they cannot even get to first base because the path to their objective is in disarray. If I'm a leader of this group, I will shoot myself in the head, get rid of the brain that is not useful," she said.
Duterte's long-time partner Cielito "Honeylet" Avancena said Advincula's fate would be up to the Lord.
Bikoy also accused Veronica, the teenage daughter of the President and Avancena, of being involved in illegal drug trade. Celerina Monte/DMS