‘Bikoy’ applies for witness protection

Peter Joemel Advincula alias Bikoy, a witness in a sedition complaint against Vice President Leni Robredo and several opposition figures, has applied for witness protection before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Advincula's lawyer, Lorenzo Gadon, submitted his client's application, which requests that he be placed under "exclusive protection" and "protective custody" of the DOJ, on Monday afternoon.

"With the different prominent political figure and various influential personalities that I divulged and disclosed during the series of investigation conducted by the Philippine National Police particularly, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, my life and the life of my family and security is at risk," Advincula said in a letter to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.

The DOJ's Witness Protection Program (WPP) is governed by Republic Act No. 6981, or the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act, which sets requirements and guidelines for those desiring to be admitted into the program.

The law states that a person under the WPP is entitled to a secured housing facility, livelihood assistance, salary from their employer on days they missed work because of their coverage by the program, and travel expenses for witness duty, among others.

Advincula is both a respondent and a witness in the Philippine National Police - Criminal Investigation and Detection Group's (CIDG) criminal complaint against Robredo, Senators Leila de Lima and Risa Hontiveros, former senators Paolo Benigno Aquino and Antonio Trillanes IV, most of the Otso Diretso senatorial slate, and even Catholic church leaders, whom police alleged were involved in a plot to discredit President Rodrigo Duterte.

The respondents are accused of committing the crimes of sedition, inciting to sedition, cyber libel, libel, estafa, harboring a criminal, and obstruction of justice. Preliminary investigation will start on Friday.

Advincula, who claims to be the figure named "Bikoy" in online videos implicating the president's family in the illegal drug trade, first surfaced to stand by the allegations made in the videos, only to surrender to police weeks later tagging the Liberal Party as the mastermind of the series.

In his letter, Advincula requested that he be placed under the direct supervision, handling and protection of Police Colonel Benjamin Silo Jr. from the Northern Police District and Police Major Ronnie Miranda Fabia from the CIDG in Albay.

Advincula hails from Donsol, Sorsogon. He admitted to having been convicted for estafa. He faces another estafa complaint unrelated to the Bikoy videos before the DOJ. — RSJ, GMA News