Sedition respondents can't invoke accuser's credibility as defense —Luna

A Malacañang anti-corruption commissioner said Saturday that individuals the police have slapped with sedition complaint over the controversial  "Ang Totoong Narcolist" videos cannot invoke as defense the lack of "credibility of the accuser."

In a statement, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission Commissioner Manuelito Luna said the common principle in law "falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus" (false in one, false in all) has long been abandoned in the Philippines.

Luna's statement came after some of the respondents in the case the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) filed last Thursday said the accuser  Peter Joemel Advincula, who claims to be "Bikoy" in the "Ang Totoong Narco-list" videos, has no credibility.

"The Supreme Court has ruled in a litany of cases such as in Abaya versus People, a 1992 case, that such rule does not obtain or apply in this jurisdiction. Hence, a testimony may be disbelieved in part, and believed in part," Luna said.

Luna added, "This may be the reason why the PNP-CIDG still proceeded to investigate 'Ang Totoong Narcolist' (Bikoy videos) and later, file charges against opposition figures and others named by Advincula as behind Project Sodoma."

Bikoy earlier claimed "Sodoma" was a plan to unseat President Rodrigo Duterte and put in place  as president Vice President Robredo, and install top Liberal Party officials to high government posts.

Before the May 2019 midterm polls, Bikoy in the "Ang Totoong Narco-list" video series alleged that some members of President Duterte's family and close friends are into drugs trade.

But he recanted and turned the tables on some opposition leaders, implicating among others, Vice President Leni Robredo, and former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

Respondents in the sedition complaint include Vice President, some members of the political opposition, as well as some Catholic Church leaders.

Other personalities included in the complaint were Senators Leila de Lima and Risa Hontiveros, former senators Paolo Benigno Aquino and Antonio Trillanes IV, members of the Otso Diretso senatorial slate except Mar Roxas, and several others.

A total of 36 people, including VP Leni, are respondents to the sedition case the police filed. —LBG, GMA news