The Senate will no longer investigate the claims of “Bikoy” or Peter Joemel Advincula against President Duterte’s family and allies following revelations that he also linked former President Benigno S. Aquino III and other officials of the previous administration to illegal drugs and other crimes.
Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III yesterday confirmed that Advincula was the same person who sought his office years ago and made claims about Aquino and several government personalities which were similar to his allegations in the viral “Ang Totoong Narco List” online series.
Advincula surfaced last Monday in Pasig City and said he was the hooded man in the controversial videos accusing Duterte’s relatives and close allies of being involved in the illegal drugs trade.
The Senate chief said his staff recognized the self-proclaimed whistleblower as the person who gave almost the same information on the supposed drug links of the former government officials.
“Sabi niya, ‘I’m so sure, 100 percent siya ‘yon’,” Sotto said, quoting his staff during their conversation while Advincula revealed himself before members of the media at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines headquarters.
Sotto was Senate Majority Leader when his political officer in December 2016 – not between 2014 to 2015 as he earlier announced – spoke with Advincula at the at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City. The staff was also able to secure a sworn statement from him.
Advincula earlier said he was convicted for estafa in 2012 but was given parole in 2016 “for good behavior.”
“Dito sa sinumpaang salaysay niya…makikita niyo yong pagkahawig doon sa Bikoy series saka doon sa statements niya doon sa IBP,” Sotto said, citing Advincula’s narrations about his job in Vita Plus, prior to getting hired by a so-called “Quadrangle Syndicate.”
In his six-page affidavit, Advincula said that he was hired by the syndicate in October 2010 to operate the closed circuit television cameras in its supposed “underground laboratory” located within the premises of a famous resort in Albay.
A certain Elizalde Co led the syndicate which was supposedly involved in illegal drugs and gun smuggling, he claimed.
Like in the Bikoy videos, Advincula said that the Quadrangle Syndicate used alphanumeric “identity codes” for the monthly payoffs of its members, which were coursed through a bank in Hong Kong.
Among those who allegedly benefitted from the activities of the group were Aquino, former Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II, and former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who supposedly receive 20 to 30 million yuans per month.
Advincula claimed Aquino receives his payoff through former Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, who, on the other hand, gets his kickback from former Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala.
These officials, he said, “frequented” the underground room and even received “bundles” of cash contained in envelopes from Co until 2012.
The ex-convict also mentioned names of congressmen, governors, vice governor, and high-ranking police officers in Bicol.
Advincula, however, later retracted his statement, saying the drug money were not deposited in the Hong Kong bank, but remitted in full to another bank in Pampanga.
Sotto clarified that former Vice President Jejomar C. Binay was not included in Advincula’s 2016 claims contrary to what he bared last Monday.
Sotto said he quickly dismissed Advincula’s claims even though it was given to him amid the controversy about De Lima’s alleged hand in the illegal drugs trade at the NBP more than two years ago.
He said he also “cannot imagine” Aquino and the others personally receiving money from the supposed drug syndicate as Advincula had claimed.
Comparing the 2016 sworn statement and his recent accusations, Sotto observed that Advincula’s statements have recycled and “changed” to suit personalities in the current administration.
“Perhaps it has something to do with the 2019 elections. Siguro gustong gasgasin yong image ng administrasyon, katulad ng panggagasgas niya sa administrasyon noon,” he opined.
Sotto said he also personally verified with the bank in Makati City the bank accounts Advincula claims to be owned by presidential son former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte.
“The bank accounts he was talking about…Ni hindi daw ganyan ang numbering at lettering nila ng mga bank account nila, kaya imposible daw ‘yon,” Sotto said.
Sotto said: “This is a very good lesson for the IBP and the religious sector. Bago ninyo patulan ang kahit anong bagay na naninira ng kapwa, imbestigahan niyo muna. You must vet it first,” Sotto told the IBP. “Definitely the person is not credible at all,” he noted. (Vanne Terrazola)
