Winning in court of law, public opinion

It still boggles the mind why not a few media personalities still give credence to fugitives Arturo Lascañas and Edgar Matobato.

The two jukeboxes were presented in Senate investigations courtesy of a jilted and equally discredited politician who wanted to be a vice presidential bet and a woman with some uncanny frailties.

With their prevaricated stories and funny inconsistencies, the senators dismissed the case that involved the mythical Davao Death Squad and the much-ballyhooed extrajudicial killings.

The Senate probe was another attempt by then Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Leila de Lima to link then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to the fabled DDS and EJKs.

Without any evidence but two fibbing witnesses, the duo earlier filed derogating information with the Ombudsman which, based on the complaint presented, ruled that it did not have any proof that the DDS existed.

To revive the case, they came up with another tall tale claiming that Mayor Duterte had ordered the killing of broadcaster Jun Pala and a pastor.

Pala, who was a critic of Duterte, had wanted to see the mayor the day before he was murdered to personally seek his protection.

Despite his commentaries, he always believed that Mayor Duterte would provide him security. Pala had made so many enemies, among them the New People’s Army and private persons he had wronged on his way to fame. He knew his assassin and it was neither Duterte nor the NPA.

Trillanes did not stop at anything. A certain Peter Joemel Advincula, aka Bikoy, surfaced in a video wearing a hood to tell an incredible tale he called “Ang Totoong Narcolist” that linked the entire Duterte family, including a pre-teen daughter, to the drug trade.

Advincula, who was later arrested for murder and perjury, confessed that his statements on the video were part of a script by Trillanes of “Project Sodoma,” a plot to oust Duterte and install VP Leni Robredo as president.

Advincula aka Bikoy named FLAG lawyers Chel Diokno and Erin Tañada, Trillanes and several others among the plotters.

In the aftermath, the FLAG lawyers filed a complaint against Advincula, accusing him of lying in his affidavit.

The Department of Justice cleared the FLAG lawyers, VP Robredo and some bishops but proceeded to file conspiracy to commit sedition charges against Trillanes and Fr. Albert Alejo, SJ, and seven others.

There’s a need to establish these whodunit episodes and magma of prevaricated charges that had seen print and were broadcast on major networks that seemed to be buried in their catacombs of forgetfulness.

It is the same perjured witnesses and the same scriptwriter now linking Vice President Sara Duterte to crimes which, if we follow the compendium of fiction written in the scripts of Trillanes and in the charge sheets of De Lima, date back to when the VP was still in a crib.

It is no surprise therefore if VP Sara will dare fugitive Lascañas and his handlers to file cases against her.

In the meantime, the Social Weather Stations released its recent survey results on the net satisfaction rating of the top four government officials: Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., +47; Sara Z. Duterte, +61; Migs F. Zubiri, +44; Martin Romualdez, +28.

Vice President Sara will win in a Court of Law and in the Court of Public Opinion.

“The Senate probe was another attempt by then Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Leila de Lima to link then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to the fabled DDS and EJKs.

“Advincula who was arrested later for murder and perjury confessed that his statements on the videos were part of a script by Trillanes.