MANILA – A Quezon City court has ordered the arrest of former senator Antonio Trillanes IV and 10 others charged with conspiracy to commit sedition over the release of a video linking President Rodrigo Duterte and his family to the illegal drug trade.
Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court-Branch 138;s Judge Kristine Suarez released the arrest warrant yesterday.
The controversial “Ang Totoong Narcolist” video was released during the 2019 midterm elections.
Aside from Trillanes, arrest warrants
were also issued against Peter Joemel “Bikoy” Advincula, Fr. Flaviano
Villanueva, Fr. Albert Alejo, Boom Enriquez, Yoly Ong-Villanueva, Jonnell
Sanggalang, JM Saracho, Eduardo Acierto, Vicente Romano, and a certain
“Monique.”
But prosecutors said they will consider making Advincula a state witness.
The case stemmed from allegations made by Advincula that members of the
opposition plotted to discredit the Duterte administration by linking the
President and his family to the illegal drug trade.
In the video, Advincula tagged Duterte’s son Paolo, son-in-law Manases Carpio,
and long-time aide and now senator Christopher Go in the drug trade but later
took back all his claims, saying the opposition had put him up to it./PN
