MANILA – Outgoing Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV once again denied knowledge on the plot of Peter Joemel “Bikoy” Advincula who linked President Rodrigo Duterte, his family and friends to the illegal drug trade.
Trillanes on Tuesday showed supposed text messages between Advincula and the “religious personalities,” saying the plot to link Duterte and his family to illegal drug trade was Advincula’s idea.
“Padre kunan mo ako ng video para may marecord ka ng testimonya ko,” Advincula’s alleged text message read.
Trillanes said priests approached him on Aug. 2018 regarding Advincula’s claims but the senator rejected Advincula for failing his vetting process of becoming a Senate witness.
Advincula was supposed to appear at a separate inquiry led by Sen. Panfilo Lacson last May but was cancelled after Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III revealed Advincula tried to link officials of former president Benigno Aquino III’s administration to drugs before.
Trillanes said Advincula now risks facing perjury raps because his initial drug claims against Duterte were in a “legally binding” sworn statement.
“Gagamitin at gagamitin namin ito kung sakaling mag-isip itong whether PNP or DOJ na i-pursue itong case na ito,” Trillanes said, referring to the Philippine National Police and the Department of Justice.
“Our lawyers will have a field day with this guy, dudurugin ang testimonya nito kung aabot sa korte,” added Trillanes./PN
