The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday asked the Department of Justice to order the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) to provide the respondents with all its evidence and affidavits of witnesses, in connection with the sedition charges filed against her and 35 other opposition personalities.
In an eight-page motion filed through her counsel Marlon Manuel, Robredo sought the DOJ’s approval for production and copying of evidence.
The vice president noted that based on news reports, the police has other evidence to support the allegations of Peter Joemel Advincula, but these have been withheld in the complaint filed before the DOJ.
“Nevertheless, assuming that such ‘evidence’ exists, the same has been deliberately withheld from the instant proceedings, in patent violation of respondent’s rights to due process,” Robredo said.
In particular, Robredo is asking the DOJ to require the PNP-CIDG, as complainant, to produce the additional evidence and witnesses they referred to in their complaint.
Manuel said the vice president has been provided only with the copy of the sworn affidavit of Advincula, who claims to be the “Bikoy” in the six-part “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos that were uploaded on YouTube, that was attached to the CIDG complaint that was filed at the DOJ last July 18.
“They should reveal all their evidence because PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde and Larry Gadon, who is the lawyer of Peter Advincula, have been saying that they have many evidence. As respondents in this particular case, we have the right to see the whole story” on the complaint,” the lawyer pointed out.
The preliminary investigation on the case will start today (Friday, August 9).
The complaint for sedition/inciting to sedition, cyber libel, libel, estafa, and harboring a criminal/obstruction of justice against Robredo and 35 other officials and personalities was filed by PNP-CIDG National Capital Region (NCR) last July 18.
Aside from Robredo, also included as respondents are Senators Ana Theresa Hontiveros-Baraquel and Leila M. De Lima, former senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV, “Otso Diretso” candidates Gary C. Alejano, Florin T. Hilbay, Romulo B. Macalintal, Jose Manuel I. Diokno, Paolo Benigno A. Aquino, Samira Gutoc-Tomawis, and Lorenzo R. Tañada III.
Archbishops Pablo S. Virgilio S. David and Socrates B. Villegas, Bishop Teodoro C. Bacani and Honesto F. Ongtico, Bro. Armin Luistro, and clergy members Robert Reyes and Albert E. Alejo were also named in the complaint.
Also named as respondents were former Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) president Abdiel Dan Elijah S. Fajardo, incumbent IBP President Egon Q. Cayosa lawyers Minerva Ambrosio, Theodore O. Te, Serafin Salvador and Philip Sawali.
They are being accused of being behind the release of the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” featuring Advincula alias Bikoy, the hooded man in the videos which linked President Duterte, his family members and several associates in the illegal drug trade in the country.
Advincula is among those charged but he is likely to be used as state witness for the prosecution.
In his affidavit, Advincula said the release of the videos was part of the so-called Project Sodoma hatched by the respondents.
Project Sodoma allegedly sought to publicly discredit the President and destabilize his government by implicating him, his family, and other government officials in drug syndicates.
The Project which was planned as early as August 2018 was also intended allegedly to derail the senatorial bid of the candidates under the Hugpong ng Pagbabago in the last election and at the same time prop up those from the opposition Otso Diretso.
Meanwhile, the three respondent-Catholic bishops have submitted their counter-affidavit before the DOJ.
Sources said that Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, and retired Novaliches Bishop Teodoro Bacani separately filed their counter-affidavits before DOJ Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas, who chairs the three-member prosecution panel that would handle the sedition complaint filed by the PNP-CIDG against 36 opposition leaders and individuals who are known critics of President Duterte.
Villegas is a former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), while David is currently the CBCP vice president.
Bishop Bacani was accompanied by his lawyer Christian Monsod when he arrived at the DOJ at around 1:53 p.m. on Thursday to submit his counter-affidavit before Prosecutor Torrevillas. It took him only less than 20 minutes to file his counter-affidavit.
Bishop David had also submitted his counter-affidavit that he earlier subscribed before a Kalookan prosecutor.
Four bishops were named respondents in the sedition complaint. There was no information yet on whether Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco has submitted his counter-affidavit.
In his affidavit, Advincula claimed that the four church officials were allegedly part of the “shadow group” component in the plot to oust President Duterte. Their group was reportedly in charge of the financial, logistical, security and accommodations support.
