Hontiveros: Sedition complaint vs. Robredo, opposition a diversionary tactic

Senator Risa Hontiveros said Friday the filing of sedition complaint against Vice President Leni Robredo and other opposition personalities could be a move to divert the attention of the public from the country’s real situation.

“I also find it odd that the filing of charges was done days before the President's 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA),” Hontiveros said in a press statement.

“I fear that this is another attempt to introduce a ‘distracting narrative’ to the people to veer public attention away from the real issues surrounding the country's state of affairs,” she added.

Duterte’s fourth SONA before a joint session of Congress will be held on Monday, July 22.

Hontiveros is among those named as respondents in the sedition complaint filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in connection with videos annotated by a certain Bikoy, who linked members of the Duterte family to illegal drugs.

Others named in the complaint are Vice President Leni Robredo, Senator Leila De Lima, former senators Paolo Benigno Aquino and Antonio Trillanes IV, members of the Otso Diretso senatorial slate, and several others.

Peter Joemel Advincula, who claims to be the hooded figure Bikoy in the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos, was named in the complaint both as a respondent and as a witness.

Hontiveros said the filing of the complaint was a total waste of taxpayers’ money.

“Instead of devoting human resources and money to pursue big-time drug lords and other criminals, our police force goes on a wild goose chase to further harass and intimidate the democratic opposition,” she said.

“It is a badly-written telenovela. Bad acting. Awful script. Terrible plot twist,” she added.

Hontiveros said she also finds it ludicrous that after the PNP assailed the credibility of ‘Bikoy,’ even threatening him with arrest, when he came out with videos accusing the President, his family, and close political friends of links to illegal drugs, the PNP now finds him credible when he changed his tune.

Hontiveros said the opposition will not be distracted amid the complaint.

“We will not be intimidated. We will not back down. Even against overwhelming odds, we will continue to speak truth to power and defend democracy and human rights in the country,” she said. — RSJ, GMA News