Failing the ‘Bikoy’ test

BY ANTONIO CONTRERAS       MAY 28, 2019

BIKOY Advincula, with his tall tales, has become a litmus test for reason and consistency, and it appears many have failed the Bikoy test. And no, it is not only the political opposition and critics of the President whose double standards have been exposed. Bikoy revealed that inconsistency also infects the Duterte loyalists and die-hard supporters.

When Bikoy came out with his series on “Ang Totoong Narco-list,” critics of the President erupted in cheers. There were calls for investigations to look into Bikoy’s allegations about the involvement in the illegal drug trade of personalities close to the President.

On the other side of the political divide, the Die-hard Duterte Supporters, aka the DDS, both inside and outside of government, quickly condemned Bikoy as a paid black operator. Malacañang even came out with not only one but two network diagrams, which it mislabeled as a “matrix,” linking Bikoy to media personalities and activist lawyers who are known critics of the President.

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Inconsistency and double standards went on high gear after Bikoy recanted and reversed his narrative. He recently admitted that he lied, that “Ang Totoong Narcolist” was a fabricated story which was a product of a conspiracy led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th, with active participation by prominent Liberal Party (LP) politicians and religious figures, aimed to oust President Duterte, and hatched allegedly in the dark secret rooms of the Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University. If we believe this tale of Bikoy, the desire to topple President Duterte and install Leni Robredo in Malacañang has easily united what UAAP basketball often divides.

And the partisan reactions have also changed now that the tables are turned. The LP now condemns Bikoy — when they previously sang paeans to him — as a charlatan peddling a ridiculous canard. And the DDS, who previously even demanded that Bikoy should be charged with inciting to sedition, are now defending his right to speak.The Philippine National Police (PNP) first wanted to take Bikoy to court for disturbing the peace with his allegedly seditious speech. Now, PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde has recognized Bikoy’s right to freedom of expression; he was allowed to speak freely at a press conference when he came under the PNP’s custody, a rare privilege that is not given to other detainees like Sen. Leila de Lima. It was indeed a novel sight to see Bikoy with the top brass of the PNP behind him. This was the counter-optics to Bikoy’s press conference in the premises of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) whose head he now also implicates in the ouster plot.

But how could someone who has a terrible record for truth-telling now be taken seriously? If we should not believe Bikoy when he was maligning the President’s close aide and relatives, why should we believe him now that he accuses the political opposition of bank-rolling his lying to the tune of half a million pesos?

There are just too many loose ends in Bikoy’s narratives. For one, we could ask how he could have agreed to a fee that simply pays off his debts that would make him enjoy only a break-even with no take-home mark-up? It also boggles the mind how illogical it was for him to come out into the open in his IBP press conference reiterating what he now claims to be lies, when the power of any black operations rests on mystery and anonymity. It is simply so idiotic to expose Bikoy whose dubious background would have undermined whatever information he was revealing. A Bikoy with garbled voice and covered face was a more potent demolition weapon than an unmasked Bikoy speaking in a press conference. If it is indeed true that Trillanes and the LP were behind him, then they really deserved to lose badly in the recent elections, and whatever fate they would suffer for being such amateurs.

Bikoy claims he later came to fear for his life after the electoral defeat of his alleged handlers. While it is rational for him to seek the protection of the PNP, it is irrational for the latter to immediately accord him the benefit of a press conference to publicly disclose his revised allegations. As Sen. Panfilo Lacson pointed out, the PNP should have been more circumspect and exercised restraint in providing Bikoy a venue to further destabilize the political order. They should have first vetted him. After all, it is not only when Bong Go and relatives of the President are accused of having connections to the illegal drug trade that could undermine political stability. It is also threatened when leaders of the political opposition, an entire senatorial slate, and two Catholic universities and leaders of the Catholic Church are implicated in a plot to oust the President. Sedition, after all, is not just seen in attempts to bring down a Presidency, such as when the opposition allegedly tried to bring down President Duterte. It is also seen in telling lies that have the effect of undermining the entire political order, which would be the case should Bikoy turn out to be lying both in his accusations detrimental to the President and in his recent allegations about an opposition plot.

Bikoy’s problem is his credibility. Presidential spokesman Sal Panelo once said that lying in one amounts to lying in all. While this is not solid legal doctrine with evidentiary value, it is nevertheless a reasonable basis to cast doubt on Bikoy’s allegations, regardless of who it affects negatively.

But what is certainly disturbing is that those who believed Bikoy before are now maligning him, as if he had told the truth then. And those who did not believe him before are now asking us to hear him fairly, as if he is telling the truth now. Meanwhile, the person or persons behind him, whatever their agenda would be, are laughing at us for being suckers for con-artists.

https://www.manilatimes.net/failing-the-bikoy-test/560810/