(Eagle News)—-Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Friday, May 3, said Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra should “slow down” on his “crackdown on whistleblowers” lest “he himself be suspected of protecting drug lords.”
Trillanes issued the statement a day after the arrest of Robert Jayme, alias Rodel Jayme Hisona, the alleged administrator of the website Metro Balita that allegedly helped propagate the “Bikoy” videos against mainly members of President Rodrigo Duterte’s family.
Trillanes has links to the Magdalo group which the National Bureau of Investigation said figured in conversations between Jayme and a certain Maru Nguyen, based on an analysis of the suspect’s devices which had been the subject of a search warrant.
According to the NBI, based on retrieved conversations, Maru Nguyen told Jayme: “Baka kausapin ka ng Magdalo.”
The NBI said Maru Nguyen, who said the goal of the videos was to gain international attention, also mentioned a certain “Filmore,” an alleged member of the Magdalo group.
“The conversations also revealed that these attacks are planned and with backing from certain personalities,” the NBI concluded in filing the inciting to sedition charge in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act against Jayme.
Guevarra has said the authorities were still looking at other “persons of interest.”
But according to Trillanes, Guevarra “must first investigate and disprove the allegations” of “Bikoy” and dismissed Col. Eduardo Acierto “before he could say that their statements are untrue.”
Acierto, who was dismissed from the police service after a court found he played a role in a sale of AK-47s to the New People’s Army, has accused Duterte of defending former economic adviser Michael Yang who is allegedly engaged in illegal drug activities.
Acierto is currently in hiding after he was indicted for his alleged role in the shipment of illegal drugs in magnetic lifters last year.
A P10-million bounty has been raised for his arrest.
“Bikoy,” who figured in the videos that were posted also in other sites, on the other hand, accused Duterte’s son Paolo of receiving kickbacks from illegal drug activities through bank accounts under Waldo Carpio, brother of Duterte’s son-in-law Mans.
“Bikoy” also accused Duterte’s partner Honeylet Avanceña and teenage daughter Veronica of being engaged in illegal drug activities.
Members of the presidential family have denied all allegations.
