The exposé of “Bikoy,” who accused President Rodrigo Duterte’s family of involvement in narcotics trade,

and the release of a matrix linking journalists and lawyers to an alleged plot to remove the Chief Executive
were part of a “propaganda war” between the government and opposition, a political analyst said on
Wednesday.

“I would consider both the Bikoy exposé and the so-called matrix as part of the ongoing propaganda war
between the administration and opposition. They also play into the election campaign,” Ramon Casiple,
executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, told The Manila Times in an interview.

“If real, there should have been action on the matter. As it is, there’s nothing there,” he added.

The “Oust Duterte” matrix links journalists and a rights group to Bikoy, an alleged former drug syndicate
member.

Media entities tagged in the supposed plot have denied the allegations.

In a separate interview, analyst Antonio “Butch” Valdes said the matrix “merely indicate surrogate
organizations used to build up public dissatisfaction and destroy popular support.”

“Regime change processes, more often than not, are planned, funded and executed with the involvement
of foreign intelligence organizations. To ignore this reality is to be naive bordering on stupidity,” Valdes,
head of the Save the Nation Movement, said.

“Individuals membership of the opposition, militant leftist elements, sare recruited for this purpose in
exchange for money and power,” he added.

Valdes said it would now be up to Duterte to decide what steps to take “in order to preserve his
administration.”

“The AFP/PNP (Armed Forces of the Philippines/Philippine National Police) leadership seem to be loyal,
but his Cabinet is suspect,” he said.

Meanwhile, analyst Perlita Frago-Marasigan said filing of charges against the “plotters” “is an option but is
not necessary in a democratic environment.”

“I think that releasing this matrix of information or disinformation, if fake, is an attempt to inoculate the,
public. More than anything else, inoculation is a strategy that aims to insulate the public from negative
propaganda against the Chief Executive and his administration,” Frago-Marasigan, political science
professor at University of the Philippines, told The Manila Times.
“The idea is to discredit the content of negative journalistic reports and to undermine the influence of critics
because now these are interpreted as attempts to destabilize government rather than to inform the public,”
she added.

Malacañang earlier said the government would only press charges against the plotters if they committed
“overt acts.”

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MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Oscar Albayalde on Wednesday
dismissed as self serving and higly scripted the online video linking close allies and relatives of President
Rodrigo Duterte to a drug syndicate.
“This is self-serving. It’s highly scripted, and anybody can post anything and anybody can accuse anybody
over the internet, over the social media,” he said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
Albayalde, who said he had watched the first of four videos in the series dubbed “Ang Totoong Narcolist”
(The True Narcolist), also renewed his warning against “Bikoy,” a purported former member of a drug
syndicate, of liabilities he may face in his accusations.
“We should be responsible on what we say in social media, because meron tayong tinatawag na cyberlibel
(because we have what we call cyberlibel). We have the anti-cybercrime law now,” he said.
The PNP chief, however, said there has to be a complainant who will file a case against “Bikoy” before he
can sued for cyberlibel, since the hooded man was attacking certain individuals in his supposed exposé.
Albayalde, likewise, questioned the timing of the videos which coincides with the campaign period for the
May 13 elections.
Albayalde earlier said the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group will track down the uploader of the video series.

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The Philippines’ Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday that they’re looking for Bikoy, a self-
confessed former drug syndicate member who has appeared in the viral YouTube series Ang Totoong
Narco List (The Real Narco List). The DOJ also said that they’re hunting down the producers of the videos.

Secretary Menardo Guevarra said yesterday that the DOJ’s Office of Cybercrime has already started an
investigation to identify the producers of Ang Totoong Narco List, reported GMA News. The DOJ is
investigating the case in partnership with the National Bureau of Investigation’s cybercrime division.

“The criminal charges would depend on the acts committed. The fact-finding team may look, for instance, if
there is a basis for the filing of a cyber libel complaint,”

When asked if the DOJ will file sedition charges against Bikoy — who’s using an alias — and the videos’
producers once they are identified, Guevarra said that he would leave the Office of Cybercrime division to
decide if it’s necessary, reported Journal Online.

The DOJ’s announcement comes after Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde
said that they’re hunting down Bikoy, whom he said could possibly be committing cyber libel by alleging
that presidential son Paolo Duterte, presidential son-in-law Manases Carpio, and former special assistant to
the president Bong Go are receiving millions of pesos from the illegal drug trade.

The Bikoy controversy reached a new dramatic chapter yesterday after a newspaper with links to the
administration, the Manila Times, published an “association matrix” which alleged that the videos of Ang
Totoong Narco Listwere allegedly being distributed to Rappler and the Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism (PCIJ) by veteran journalist Ellen Tordesillas, the president of non-profit news organization Vera
Files.

The Manila Times said they received the matrix from a “highly-placed source” in President Rodrigo
Duterte’s office.

The plot thickened when Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that the matrix which Manila
Times published was created by no less than the president himself, reported ABS-CBN News.

Panelo, who also works as the government’s chief legal counsel, yesterday warned the journalists
mentioned in the matrix to cease from allegedly destroying the president but said that they would not
pursue legal actions against them for the time being, reported AFP.

Tordesillas posted a statement on her Facebook account yester denying that she was involved in the
alleged plot. Rappler executive editor Maria Ressa and the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism
also denied that they were receiving any emails from Tordesillas regarding the Ang Totoong Narco
Listvideos.

While the president is taking the videos seriously, his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte has
dismissed them, saying that they’re nothing new.
Treating Criminal Justice-Involved Drug Abusers
and Addicted Individuals
Often, drug abusers come into contact with the criminal justice system earlier than
other health or social systems, presenting opportunities for intervention and treatment
prior to, during, after, or in lieu of incarceration. Research has shown that combining
criminal justice sanctions with drug treatment can be effective in decreasing drug abuse
and related crime. Individuals under legal coercion tend to stay in treatment longer and
do as well as or better than those not under legal pressure. Studies show that for
incarcerated individuals with drug problems, starting drug abuse treatment in prison
and continuing the same treatment upon release—in other words, a seamless
continuum of services—results in better outcomes: less drug use and less criminal
behavior. More information on how the criminal justice system can address the problem
of drug addiction can be found in Principles of Drug Abuse