No more arrest for Bikoy
THE Manila Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 17 will no longer be implementing the arrest order it earlier issued against Peter Joemel Advincula, alias ‘Bikoy,’ after the latter justified his failure to make it to his slated arraignment last July 21.
MTC Judge Karla Funtila-Abugan granted the request of Advincula for the non-implementation of the said order after explaining fully the reasons and saying that it was not his intention to not appear in his arraignment.
Advincula told the court that he did not make it to court due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, bad weather and the fact that he has not been vaccinated. It was learned that he is currently staying in Bicol.
Owing to this, the bail posted by Abugan earlier was restored after the court had it cancelled.
The court though warned Advincula that he will be sanctioned if he will still not attend his arraignment and pre-trial conference on August 26.
Advincula is facing charges of perjury filed against him by some members of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) whom he allegedly implicated in a plan to oust President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019.
It will be recalled that Advincula admitted he was the ‘Bikoy’ who was the narrator in a series of videos accusing the Duterte family of involvement in the illegal drug trade in the country.
