By Jeffrey Damicog
Senator Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros has denied allegations that she had been involved in the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” viral videos which were allegedly part of a destabilization plot against President Rodrigo Duterte.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros (Senator Risa Hontiveros / Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
“I vehemently deny any involvement in any destabilization plot, or in the production and dissemination of ‘Ang Totoong Narcolist’,” read her counter-affidavit.
Hontiveros filed the counter-affidavit before the Department of Justice (DOJ) panel of prosecutors conducting the preliminary investigation on the criminal complaint filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) against her and 36 other respondents.
The PNP-CIDG accused the respondents of having committed sedition, inciting to sedition, cyber libel, libel, estafa, harboring a criminal, and obstruction of justice.
The case stemmed from the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos which featured the hooded Bikoy, who was later revealed to be Peter Joemel Advncula.
The PNP-CIDG said it learned from Advicula that the videos were part of a destabilization plot under “Project Sodoma” as ”he was engaged by the respondents to spread lies against the President, his family and close associate, making them to appear as illegal trade protectors and how they earned staggering amounts of money.”
“The attempt to implicate me is based solely on the bare uncorroborated allegations of a certain Peter Joemel Advincula y De Leon. Thus, at the outset, it is respectfully submitted that the complaint lodged against me, being utterly bereft of legal and factual basis, should be dismissed outright,” Hontveros urged the panel.
“The allegation in the Sinumpaang Salaysay dated July 18, 2019, executed by Advincula that I am or was ever a part of a ‘Shadow Group’ is simply untrue. I have no knowledge about the existence, much less the workings, of the ‘Shadow Group’ or of ‘Project Sodoma’,” she pointed out.
The senator said she was mentioned in the sworn statement of Advincula as having participated in “Project Sodoma” meetings on February 15 and 17.
“The meetings described by Advincula in his Sinumpaang Salaysay did not take place,” she stressed.
If the meetings did take place, Hontiveros indicated that Advincula failed to say what her contributions were in the destabilization plot.
“It does not even bother to allege or specify how I participated in ‘Project Sodoma’ or the financing, production, or dissemination of the ‘Ang Totoong Narcolist’ videos,” she said.
Hontiveros told the panel the complaint was just “a blunt instrument intended to harass and intimidate this country’s political opposition into acquiescence.”