By Argyll Cyrus Geducos
Malacañang accused the Liberal Party (LP) and some Otso Diretso senatorial bets of conspiring with other groups to discredit the Duterte administration, while trying to boost the chances of opposition candidates in the May 13 midterm elections.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo
(OPS / MANILA BULLETIN)
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made the statement two days after Peter Advincula surfaced and claimed that he was the man known as "Bikoy" in the video series, who named members and allies of President Duterte as among the leaders of a drug syndicate.
In a press briefing Wednesday, Panelo also tagged the Magdalo group to be conspiring with other personalities allied with the Liberal Party, and with those tagged in the matrix presented last month.
"The President has received intelligence information that shows there is a deliberate conspiracy between certain groups to discredit this administration for purposes of this election," he said.
"And the groups, according to this intelligence information, seem to be the Liberal Party, the yellows, Magdalos, and the media outfits, as well as the organizations indicated in the matrix presented to you the other week," he added.
According to Panelo, citing new matrices in his press briefing, the groups seem to be working hand-in-hand to discredit the administration and boost the candidacy of Otso Diretso candidates.
Malacañang last month said that Rappler, the Vera Files, and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) were part of a conspiracy to ruin the reputation of President Duterte and his family.
The connection
Citing an "in-depth" analysis of all internet activities and footprints, Panelo said veteran journalist Ellen Tordesillas had a "very active" online collaboration with the group of former Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, blogger Cocoy Dayao, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, and Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Joma Sison.
The Palace official also said there was a collaboration with the group of webmaster Arman Pontejos, Metro Balita website creator Rodel Jayme, and a certain Bong Banal whom Panelo bared as the real narrator of the Bikoy videos.
"It appears from this diagram that the Liberal Party, Magdalo, and other groups indicated in the matrix, are working hand-in-hand. Why do we say this? Intelligence information shows that some of them, not all of them, are using the same office," Panelo said.
"Personalities like Bong Banal, Cocoy Dayao, and Rodel Jayme, they're all known to be advocates of the Liberal Party. And then even their email address appears to be the ones sharing this video of Bikoy. Ibig sabihin (It only means that) the same people are sharing the same video of Bikoy," he added.
Panelo also said that based on the information received by the President, Jayme was found to have constant online collaboration with other Liberal Party supporters, particularly journalist Inday Espina Varona, Gara Trillanes, Otso Diretso bets Gary Alejano and Florin Hilbay.
He also tagged some personalities identified as advocates very active in social media dishing out anti-Duterte statements and sentiments, and validated to be allied with the liberal party.
Based on one of the matrices Panelo showed, Otso Diretso bets Senator Bam Aquino and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas are linked to one Jerry Mae Maghinay, the owner of the Facebook page where the video of former cop Eduardo Acierto was initially uploaded.
According to the Palace official, the copy of the matrices was given to him by a lawyer from the Office of the President.