Alias Bikoy’s Folly: Media Fail To Get at the Truth

SEVENTEEN DAYS was all it took for Peter Joemel Advincula, alias “Bikoy,” the hooded figure in the controversial “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos, to recant his statements about the involvement of the Duterte family in the drug trade.

In a press conference at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame on May 23, Advincula said all the allegations he made in the video were lies and claimed that the videos were part of a plot to oust the president by the Liberal Party (LP) and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.  Media reports said Advincula surrendered to the PNP the previous night before because there were standing arrest warrants for his estafa cases.

Advincula first surfaced on May 6 at the office of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) when he sought legal assistance to sue the persons he had tagged as involved in the illegal drug trade. Those he named had immediately denied his accusations, with Malacañang describing the allegations as lies and black propaganda.

While the president and Palace officials kept claiming the existence of a plot to oust Duterte, they never provided evidence to prove it. After “Bikoy” videos surfaced beginning April 2, The Manila Times on April 22 published a matrix linking critics, including a lawyers’ group, news organizations and journalists to an ouster plot along with the distribution of the Bikoy videos. Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that Malacañang had the same information but the Times preempted them in publicizing it.

On May 8, Panelo and Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar presented diagrams supposedly listing the wide network of conspirators. The expanded matrices included the LP, some members of the opposition and other groups.

But when Advincula went to the IBP, he denied having any connection with political parties and the media personalities previously tagged in the matrix.

The dots on the conspiracy no longer connected.

The media were quick to pick up Advincula’s statements recanting his claims, noting his change of tune. But media made no effort to make sense of the development, leaving this latest flip-flop to the public to take as they please. Although some reports expressed some reservations, most merely quoted his statements.

CMFR monitored  the leading Manila broadsheets Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Philippine Star, the primetime newscasts (ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol, CNN Philippines’ News Night, GMA-7’s 24 Oras and TV5’s Aksyon), as well as selected news websites from May 23 to 30, 2019.

“Bikoy” flip-flop

Advincula’s flip-flop provoked some pointed observations from some of the media.

A report in 24 Oras on May 23 included an observation by reporter Lei Alviz: “Yan na ang linya ngayon ng nagpakilalang si Bikoy sa kumalat na ‘Ang Totoong Narcolist’ videos. Wala pang isang buwan mula nang iugnay niya ang pamilya Duterte sa kalakaran ng droga sa bansa, binaliktad na ni Peter Joemel Advincula ang kanyang mga sinabi.” The Inquirer’s banner story on May 24, meanwhile, read: “Bikoy changes tune, says LP, Trillanes behind videos.”

Background details filled out some media accounts.  24 Oras on May 23 and the Inquirer on May 24 aired reports which focused solely on reviewing what had happened before Advincula retracted.

Philstar.com provided a timeline of events on May 23, which also noted the change of tune of Malacañang and the PNP. Malacañang had previously dismissed Advincula’s claims on the video, but now said his current allegations about the involvement of the LP and Trillanes should be investigated. It also included PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde’s view that Advincula was just exercising his right to free expression and that the PNP’s hosting his press conference was not a “political exercise.” Philstar.com recalled that Albayalde in June 2018 said that the PNP would stop the practice of presenting suspects to the media – a subtle jab at what the PNP did to accommodate Advincula.

Unfortunately, there was little added value in the weekend coverage nor in the subsequent exchange of  unsubstantiated allegations. The coverage did not try to uncover more about Advincula’s person – who is the man, and where did he come from – being content instead with what little description was provided by the PNP.

Is the ouster plot real?

In an interview in GMA News’ online show “FYI with Richard Heydarian” on May 28, Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana said military and police intelligence have not  found any “active threat” aimed at unseating Duterte, adding that destabilization efforts would require recruiting “a lot of people”, such as local officials, the police and the military.

The remark prompted Panelo to try to save face, since he had been talking about an oust-Duterte plot for weeks after the conspiracy matrix was published. Panelo who accompanied the president to attend the 25^th Nikkei Conference on the Future of Asia told reporters in Tokyo that there was no “inconsistency” between Malacañang’s position and Lorenzana’s statement. He claimed the defense chief merely meant that “the plot was not capable of being successful” and didn’t mean to say that there was no ouster plot against Duterte. It was a rare case of the presidential spokesperson interpreting what a senior Cabinet member was saying, without the media noting how Lorenzana’s statement clashed with those of Panelo who had been insisting the plot was real because the information came from Duterte himself.

Such conflicting statements on the ouster allegations showed up how the public has been taken for a ride wild claims from dubious personalities like Advincula, as well as Malacañang itself.

Speculation has been rife about who has masterminded what is obviously a hoax. But there has been little effort on the part of the media to get to the bottom of the issue. The mainstream media has appeared quite willing to carry the Palace spin on Advincula and his allegations as well as other serious matters.

Media seem to have become risk-averse about digging deeper to find the truth.