Malacañang yesterday denied that the search for “Bikoy,” the man behind the video linking President Duterte’s family to illegal drugs, is a diversionary tactic to cover up the administration’s shortcomings.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo made the statement after the Liberal Party was linked to the incident following the arrest of Rodel Jayme, the uploader of the Bikoy video by the National Bureau of Investigation early this week.
In a statement, Liberal Party president and “Otso Diretso” senatorial slate campaign manager Sen. Francis N. Pangilinan said linking their party to the dissemination of the videos is a way to divert the attention of the public.
However, Panelo said the hunt for Bikoy is not a diversionary tactic and accused the LP for using the videos to ruin the image of the President.
“Diba sila nga nag-umpisa noon, ng propaganda? Ginamit nila yung Bikoy propaganda para siraan ang gobyerno. Sila ‘yun,” he said. “What I’m saying is they used that against the family… In other words, they contributed to the intrigue by using that as a propaganda. Eh, ever since naman sinabi namin black propaganda, kaya hindi namin pinapansin,” he added.
Panelo explained that the search for Bikoy by the authorities is only the obvious course to take since it is the duty of the lawmen to go after criminals. “Ang paghahanap ng mga nasa likod ay natural lamang sa isang pamahalaan, at sa ahensya ng mga pulis dahil yun ang kanilang tungkulin – hanapin ang mga nasa likod ng krimen. That’s their job,” he said.
According to the Palace official, they would now just wait for the investigation of the NBI to finish. He said President Duterte is not lifting a finger to get to the bottom of the issue.
“Yung kay Bikoy iniimbestigahan na ng NBI. So tignan natin kung ano ang magiging kahihinatnan ng imbestigasyon. We’ll just wait,” Panelo said. “Knowing President Duterte, he’s busy with his work… Pinapabayaan niya na yung mga ahensya ng gobyerno to function ang kanilang individual tasks,” he added. (Argyll Geducos)
