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| Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (Photo: Senate of the Philippines/Facebook) |
Outgoing Senator Antonio
Trillanes IV on Monday said that Peter Joemel Advincula had approached him,
affirming to be able to expose a drug syndicate, but he did not take Advincula
seriously on his offer as he has not yet been scrutinized thoroughly.
Advincula recently surrendered to
the authorities, and claimed to be the individual known as "Bikoy" in
a series of anti-Duterte videos posted on YouTube and social media.
“Una nang inilapit sa akin ng mga pari si
Bikoy August last year dahil siya daw ay papatayin ng sindikato ng illegal na
droga. Pinakinggan ko siya pero nakulangan ako at naguluhan sa mga detalye kaya
isinantabi ko at tuluyan nang kinalimutan ang usapang ito,” Trillanes stated in a privilege speech, where
he also denied that he had participation in the "Ang Totoong
Narcolist" Bikoy videos.
Trillanes also claimed that priests had been
receiving death threats because of Bikoy’s documents.
“Sometime in February, binalikan ako ng mga pari at
binigyan ng mga dokumento na naglalaman ng mga detalye ng bank account ng mga
lider ng sindikato. Galing ito sa mga kasamahan ni Bikoy na miyembro ng
sindikato,” he added.
Trillanes added that he had asked media
outlets, investigative journalists and other entities both foreign and local to
validate the said documents.
“They said the validation process might take a while but
if the account details are accurate, the money trail could be traced...Ang sabi
naman nila ay ire-report na lang nila ito sa publiko pag ito ay nakumpirma na,” he said.
The senator said he spoke to Advincula to
straighten out details of his statement and advised the priests to wait for the
result of the validation of the documents.
He said he was out of the country to attend
series of speaking engagements when the "Ang Totoong Narcolist"
videos started surfacing, and that Senate records could verify that.
“Uulitin ko, wala akong kinalaman sa paggawa ng mga
videos na ‘yun. To my PMAer upperclassmen here, All Right, sir. Malamang siya
rin ang gumawa ng mga video na ‘yan. To be fair, maganda nga po ang pagkakagawa
ni Bikoy ng mga video at nakakuha ito ng atensyon ng publiko,” He added.
Trillanes said that when Advincula finally appeared
and his colleagues at the minority bloc, they wanted to file a resolution, he
discouraged them from it and suggested that they let Advincula provide more
evidence.
“Precisely, because I still have some reservations
regarding his revelations. My fellow members of the minority can attest to this
fact,” he said.
The Senator said Bikoy was not just the first person who came to his office with an expose, just like in 2017, a woman
also claimed to have information about illegal drugs.
Trillanes stressed that he sticks to his
track record that if a witness, evidence, or accusation is true, he would
expose it in public and swear by it.
“Mabigat ang prosesong pinagdadaanan ng mga prospective
witnesses na lumalapit sa amin kasi kapag hindi katotohanan ang ilalabas ng mga
ito ay madali silang gibain ng mga tanong ng mga senador,” Trillanes said
He explained that since he did not present
Advincula in the Senate means he did not pass the vetting process.
Trillanes also cannot blame the priests, who
believed in Advincula.
“Sa kabutihan ng kanilang puso at magandyang layunin,
nagbigay sila ng sanktuwaryo sa isang taong nagsasabi na nanganganib ang
kanyang buhay. As shepherds of Christ, that is their ministry. Hindi lang nila
siguro na-expect na meron pa ring tao na susuklian ang kanilang kabutihan ng
isang kataksilan,” he mentioned.
Advincula recently held a press conference
where he retracted his statements against President Rodrigo Duterte and his
family and instead accused Trillanes and the Liberal Party were behind the
supposed plot to bring down the administration.
Source: GMA Network
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