What Miranda wanted to submit was a news clipping of an opinion piece by lawyer Jude Sabio in the Mindanao Goldstar Daily on Sept. 2, 2019 criticizing Trillanes and a column in the Manila Times by Rigoberto Tiglao about Sabio’s article.
There are four affidavits of Advincula that have been made public including the December 2016 document that he allegedly gave to Senate President Tito Sotto implicating detained Sen. Leila de Lima in the drug syndicate.
The three affidavits – May 6, 2016 executed at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the May 29, 2019 done at the Philippine National Police – Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and the July 17 which he submitted to the Department of Justice – are related to what he alleged as the plot to oust Duterte by the opposition. These affidavits are the basis for the sedition case filed by the PNP-CIDG against 38 persons led by Vice President Leni Robredo, former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, , seven members of the Religious Community, seven of the eight (Mar Roxas is not included) senatorial candidates of the opposition in the last May elections.
Advincula, who will be the PNP’s star witness, is included among those charged. So is dismissed police officer Senior Superintendent Eduardo Acierto, who was allegedly involved in the 2018 drug smuggling through magnetic filters in 2018.
If the objective of the #Real Numbers press conference last Thursday organized by the Presidential Communications Operations Office was to clarify about the conflicting numbers related to President Duterte’s drug war, it left us more confused.
It’s difficult to believe her assertion because in the Duterte government’s 2017 Accomplishment Report, under the section “Fighting Illegal Drugs,” it listed 3,967 “drug personalities who died in anti-drug operations” from July 1, 2016 to November 30, 2017 and 16,355 “homicides under investigation” from July 1, 2016 – September 30, 2017.
After Bong Go, President Duterte’s former special assistant who is now one of the frontrunners in the senatorial race, did the humiliating act of undressing in front of the media and under the glare of TV cameras, to show his tattoo-less back, the question of those who were initially impressed with the first three episodes of “Ang totoong Narco list” is, what’s Bikoy going to say about this?
Bikoy, for those who did not follow his video series, claims to be a former member of a drug syndicate operating in Southern Luzon and Visayas region. He said he was involved in the recording of transactions and showed copies of the documents in the video where he appeared as hooded figure.
For many days after Go debunked his claim about having personally seen a tattoo with dragon figure on the back of Duterte’s aide, he was silent which was not surprising. As Terry Ridon, former urban poor chief of the Duterte administration, in his opinion piece in the Philippine Daily Inquirer said, “ Wala na, finish na.”
The title of Ridon’s article was “The ‘Bikoy’ who cried wolf”
This is a classic case of Duterte getting a dose of his own medicine.
Two weeks after he released the initial list local officials allegedly involved in drug trafficking, two videos implicating the President’s son, former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and now candidate for Representative of Davao City’s first district, were uploaded on You Tube and Facebook account of “Metro Balita”, which lists itself as “media/news company.”
Titled “Ang Totoong Narcolist” , Episode 1 is 6 minutes and 50 seconds long. Episode 2 is three minutes and 30 seconds.
The videos look professionally done. So is the annotation.
Pres. Duterte was into his “I will kill you” element again during the PDP-Laban campaign rally at Negros Occidental last Friday. He was talking, as usual, about his campaign against illegal drugs.
He said every day, there’s news about shabu. “P***** i** talagang papatayin ko kayo because drugs will destroy my country. Nagkalat — hindi na halos ma-control eh. “
Apparently, he has not thought of assessing the efficacy of his “kill, kill” strategy as he himself admits the proliferation of illegal drugs remains unabated.
One of the reasons that will make the International Criminal Court decide to exercise jurisdiction over alleged extra-judicial killings committed under the Duterte administration is when they see that the government is “unable or unwilling” to prosecute the crimes. It is called the principle of complementarity.
The communications filed at the ICC against Duterte and police officials alleged to be responsible for the over 5,000 killed during anti-drug operations is in the Examination stage. In her annual report last December, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said her office has received a total of 52 communications related to extrajudicial killings in the Philippines since she started the preliminary examination on Feb. 8, 2018.
She said her office will “ continue to engage with a variety of reliable sources and relevant stakeholders on all matters relevant to the preliminary examination of the situation in the Philippines.”
It takes courage not to toe the President’s line.
That’s why it’s awe-inspiring listening to Atty. Lourdes Mangaoang, former Customs X-ray Inspection Project (XIP) chief, in insisting her expert opinion about the magnetic lifters that were alleged to have been used to smuggle illegal drugs last July estimated to be worth P6.8 billion.
Same with Director General Aaron Aquino of the Philippine drug enforcement agency who has not wavered in the findings of the agency that the magnetic lifters that passed through the Bureau of Customs contained shabu which is now flooding the streets of the country destroying more lives.
Things will never be the same between China and President Duterte after the latter’s unprovoked comment about businessman Michael Yang and Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua at the dinner with officers and members Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association, Inc. last Oct. 4 in Malacañang.
Duterte is now regarded by Chinese officials as a loose lip and untrustworthy.
They will use him to further China’s interest for the remaining time of the Duterte presidency, which is now uncertain in the light of his revelation that he had to go through tissue tests following an endoscopy and colonoscopy three weeks ago, but they see him now as “somewhat crazy”, someone they should be nice with but wary about, according to a source in the Chinese community.
Fresh from his “day-off” to undergo laboratory tests at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan, Duterte was his usual talkative self. His started with his maraming- beses- ng- bumenta line of setting aside his prepared two-page speech and rambled. He talked of the same things he had been talking even before Day One of his presidency- about his reluctance to run for president in 2016 because he had no money, his son Sebastian’s predilection for women, his wise daughter Inday Sara, his fight against corruption, etc. etc. . And of course his disdain for drugs.
Then, he mentioned Michael Yang: “Ito daw si isang Michael Yang na drug addict daw (This Michael Yang, they say he is a drug addict.)
This time, President Duterte is telling the truth: he has killed people without the victim or victims going through due process.
Malacañang was extremely bothered by the President’s admission of guilt that aside from statements by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo downplaying it, they issued a separate statement.
This is amidst opinions by international legal experts that Duterte’s statement is an admission of guilt and will weigh heavily against him in the cases filed before the International Criminal Court.