Bam Aquino, Gary Alejano paid to smear Duterte election bets, bares extortion suspect

Former Magdalo Rep Gary Alejano and senator Bam Aquino / photo from Abante

An alleged extortionist was arrested on Thursday by the Philippine National Police, linked former otso diretso senatorial candidates, former Senator Bam Aquino and former Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano to an online smear campaign against their opposition candidates from the Duterte Administration.

Dennis Jose Borbon, 24, who admitted as an anti-Duterte blogger and a former staff member of the party list group 1-Edukasyon, said he was paid between P20,000 to P40,000 a month by Bam Aquino’s cjief of staff for the negative online posts against the President Duterte’s candidates.

"N'ung election, lumapit sa akin 'yung chief of staff ni Bam Aquino at pinapatira yung mga kandidato ng administrasyon noong nakaraang eleksyon... Nagde-deposito sila ng 20k to 40k. Iba pa nga po yung galing kay Congressman Gary Alejano,” Borbon said.

"'Yung mga alegasyon pong sinasabi ni Senator Christopher Lawrence Bong Go, totoo po ‘yun hindi ko naman po kinakaila ‘yun..." he added.

Senator Bong Go attended the PNP press conference where they presented Borbon and fellow suspects. The suspects allegedly extorted money from certain lawmakers during the last mid-term election.

Go who ran under the PDP-Laban and who was endorsed by the Davao-based Hugpong ng Pagbabago, challeged Aquino, but the latter earlier denied that the Liberal Party was behind any black propaganda against the administration candidates.


"Mas naging interesado ako dahil mas malalim pala ang taong ito. Inutusan din pala siya noong nakaraang eleksyon para siraan kami,” Go said.

"Ngayon, tinatanong ko si Bam Aquino... anong ginagawa ng chief-of-staff mo? Nagdedeposito ng pera sa account niya para siraan kami. May karapatan kang sumagot..." he added.

However, Aquino and Alejano denied Borbon's allegations and asked that his claims not be dignified.
"Kulang sa pansin itong si Borbon at malinaw na iniiba ang kwento para makalimutan ang mga krimeng nagawa nya," Aquino said in a text message.

"Wala tayong kinalaman sa kanya. Huwag sana nating paniwalaan ang mga tao gaya ni Borbon na manloloko at nakasangkot sa mga scam," Bam added.


While Alejano said his "social media and related campaign materials were undertaken by professional volunteers known in the industry during the campaign."

"I will never resort to smear campaign whatsoever and my team knows that as a general rule," Alejano said in a text message.

"May our government officials be more responsible in releasing information to public especially if their source is from a scammer," he added.

Borbon also confessed that he personally knew Peter Joemel Advincula, the man who claims to be the hooded “Bikoy” in anti-Duterte videos that involved the President Duterte’s Family in illegal drug trade.


"Kilala ko rin po si Peter. Nagkakausap din po kami," Borbon said.

Senator Bong Go is calling out the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the PNP to investigate further into the alleged involvement of the suspects to the members of the opposition.

Go also claimed that the former Senator Antonio Trillanes, was also involved in the campaign against opposition candidates.

"Gusto ko lang po malaman ang totoo. Humihingi lang po ako ng hustisya, dalawang beses nila akong pinaghubad para patunayan 'yung black propaganda na pinapataw nila sa akin na di totoo," Go said.

Trillanes said, “Pwede ba tigilan nya ako sa mga kalokohan niya? Wala akong pakialam sa kanya.”

Source: GMA news