What Bikoy is for me

Jude Josue Sabio .

THE Bikoy affair fits the plot of a classical tragedy. Pathetically, Bikoy turned around by blowing his whistle against his handler to the utter dismay of his handlers and supposed beneficiaries. 

For a lawyer like me, Bikoy represents a nightmare in a courtroom trial. If a witness is hostile to my client’s cause, it will be foolish of me to present him in court as a witness for my client, because he will just destroy my client.  

In a courtroom trial, I will face embarrassment if my own witness speaks against my client. The consequence is terrifying and irreparable: the witness loses credibility and is bereft of any more belief; the legal cause of my client crumbles altogether.

In the Bikoy affair, the handlers produced the narco videos and uploaded them on social media. Presumably, the handlers were confident that Bikoy was reliable and would stand in a rigorous scrutiny.

Their confidence is shown even more by the fact that they knew Bikoy’s criminal record for estafa but still went on with his videos. They appeared to be confident that his credibility could  withstand his bad record. 

But as it turned out, Bikoy had a similar statement way back in 2016, in which he implicated former LP officials in a drug syndicate. His story about a drug syndicate appears to be an exact replica of his narco video story. At the first instance, this should have convinced the handlers to junk Bikoy.

If the handlers knew about this previous 2016 statement, it is presumed that they must have conducted due diligence about it. The fact that they proceeded with the videos shows, most likely, that they firmly believed in his credibility even in the face of such a contradictory statement. 

In fact, the handlers made a legitimate attempt later on to blunt the edges of the 2016 statement. In a subsequent video, Bikoy downplayed the 2016 statement, asserting that his signature is forged and that the document was not notarized.

But unfortunately for his handlers, Bikoy still did not stand on his word.   He turned around, claiming that all the videos and all that he had said are scripted and fabrications. That was the tragic culmination of the Bikoy affair that could still spawn a nasty fallout in the near future.

To begin with, Bikoy recently brought his statement under oath to the PNP.   He confirmed his complete turnaround.  If he were to be believed, it appears that he showed his previous 2016 statement to Sen. Trillanes in October last year.   According to Bikoy, he wanted a validation of  such document which had previously been given to him by a Bilibid prison official.

In a privilege speech, Sen. Trillanes claimed that Bikoy failed in his vetting process. While the senator failed to expressly state that he knew about the previous 2016 statement, his claim possibly implies that he knew about the previous 2016 statement, and that since it directly implicates LP stalwarts who are his allies, he must have declined Bikoy because of it.

In any event, Bikoy’s statement on the actual participation of Sen. Trillanes is already confirmed and admitted by no less than the senator himself in his privilege speech. The senator admitted that the priests referred Bikoy to him for the first time in August 2018 and for the second time in February this year.

As things now stand, only the extent of the senator’s participation in the Bikoy affair is at issue. For one, while the senator mentioned that the disputed “tara” documents were shown to him only in February this year by priests, Bikoy contradicted him, saying that it was Sen. Trillanes or his staff who showed the “tara” documents to him in October last year.   

Amidst all these, the handlers overlooked one crucial matter. They failed to engage a lawyer for Bikoy.  Even at the crucial final stretch, or after a period of nine months when he was supposed to come out by filing a case with the ombudsman, he still had to seek for legal assistance from the IBP.

However, the IBP later refused such request, even as it had anomalously allowed Bikoy to conduct a press conference in its premises. After the elections, Bikoy struck the fatal blow against his handlers: his complete turnaround. It was the end of it all for his handlers, including, most notably, Fr. Albert Alejo, S.J.

Fate must be very kind to me. My circumstances then effectively prevented me from any involvement whatsoever. As reported in media, my MCLE deficiency gave rise to an egregious arrest warrant issued against me by then Trece Martires Judge, and now Court of Appeals Justice Geluz.  This warrant was later junked by the Court of Appeals on March 29, 2019. 

After the Court of Appeals decision, I could have been engaged as lawyer for Bikoy, but by a blessing in disguise at that crucial final stretch for Bikoy, a twist of the hand of fate veered me away from what would have turned out to be a scandalous disaster in my professional career. On hindsight, it would have been a disaster of international proportions.

As the nasty turn of events reveals, I could have suffered the same fate that befell on the IBP and its national officers. But by twist of fate, it was not meant to be. Ironically, it was by this same steady hand of fate that I was directed in a mission to the ICC in April 2017 when I personally filed a case for crime against humanity against President Duterte. It will be this same fate that will lead me towards a solidarity for justice in the future. 

(Jude Josue L. Sabio is the lawyer from Misamis Oriental who filed a complaint against President Duterte before the International Criminal Court.)