Manila court orders Bikoy's arrest for not attending arraignment in perjury case

A Manila court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Peter Joemel “Bikoy” Adivincula for skipping his arraignment on perjury charges filed against him by human rights lawyers.

Judge Karla Funtila-Abugan of the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 17 issued the arrest order with bail set at double the amount of the previous bail (P18,000) posted by Advincula. The trial court forfeited his previous bail due to his absence during the hearing.

Abugan rescheduled the arraignment and preliminary conference to August 26.

Prosecutors accused Advincula of making "untruthful statements" under oath when he claimed that lawyers Jose Manuel "Chel" Diokno, Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada III and former Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te were part of a plot seeking to oust President Rodrigo Duterte.

Diokno, Tañada, and Te are members of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG).

In the perjury complaint, the FLAG lawyers said Advincula falsely tagged them as members of a supposed anti-Duterte plot called "Project Sodoma."

Agreeing with the complainants, the investigating prosecutor said Diokno and Tañada attended a senatorial forum at the Ateneo de Manila University on the day Advincula claimed they were planning for "Project Sodoma."

In the case of Te, the prosecutor said that he only met with Advincula because he had received a message under FLAG that a person wanted to ask for legal help.

Te said he was unaware that Advincula was "Bikoy," the figure who appeared in a series of videos accusing Duterte's family of drug links.  —KBK, GMA News