DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Duterte accused Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV as being behind the “Bikoy Totoong Narcolist” video series that implicated the Chief Executive and members of his family in a drug syndicate.
Duterte also accused the Magdalo group and the opposition Otso Diretso senatorial candidates for the production of the video to undermine his administration.
“Actually, Magdalo and Otso Diretso were behind the Bikoy propaganda. It’s the production of Trillanes,” Duterte said during the final campaign rally of the Hugpong sa Tawhanong Lungsod local candidates here the other night.
A certain Peter Joemel Advincula has claimed to be “Bikoy” in the video series, but the President insisted he was not the person in the video.
Advincula surfaced before the media at a press conference last Monday at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines headquarters in Pasig City.
“The Bikoy in the video whose face was covered was not the one who was speaking. This one is a Bicolano, while the other has the accent of a Maranao, my relatives,” Duterte said.
He said he would know the intonation to be that of Maranao dialect by the way he speaks.
“Wherever you are, you will be able to identify a Maranao, even in Luzon. They are the ones who sell the DVDs like this, ‘DVD, DVD, DVD, DVD, DVD.’ They speak so fast. Well, it’s a good thing that I’m a Maranao. If I were not…” Duterte said.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has launched a massive manhunt for “Bikoy,” the man allegedly behind the controversial “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos.
PNP chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde said the police are set to serve arrest warrants on Advincula, who has claimed to be Bikoy.
Albayalde noted Advincula has been using different names to hide his identity, including John Paul Rafael Benedict Santos, Arcangel de Leon or Archie Santos, Lory Camba and Jaime Gaupo Jr. to evade arrest.