IBP Davao slams nat’l leadership over ‘Bikoy’ appearance

“While the IBP Davao City Chapter respects the IBP National in representing its membership on some national issues, however, BIKOY does not deserve the Chapter’s support since the IBP is a non-partisan organization not established to cater political interest,” it said. (File Photo: Screenshot from “Ang Totoong Narcolist”)

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Davao City Chapter on Tuesday, May 7, criticized the organization’s national leadership for allowing a man who claims to be “Bikoy” to use them as his “staging area” for his “show.”

The IBP Davao City Chapter was referring to Peter Joemel Advincula, the man who said to be behind the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos that link the family of President Rodrigo Duterte and his former aide Christopher “Bong” Go to the illegal drug trade.

“While the IBP Davao City Chapter respects the IBP Davao City Chapter respects the IBP National in representing its membership on some national issues, however, BIKOY does not deserve the Chapter’s support since the IBP is a non-partisan organization not established to cater political interest,” it said.

It noted that the decision of the IBP National was “not in accord” to the fundamental purposes of the organization “to elevate the standards of the legal profession, improve the administration of justice, and enable the Bar to discharge its public responsibility more effectively.”

“The IBP Davao City Chapter does not and will not tolerate any statements from the present leadership of the IBP National that will result in politicizing the organization,” the group added.

The remarks of the local chapter came after Advincula appeared on Monday at the IBP headquarters in Ortigas to ask for legal assistance in filing a case against those in the drug syndicate.

[READ: Man claiming to be ‘Bikoy’ asks for legal assistance for the ‘real war on drugs]

Advincula, during a press conference, cited two reasons for disclosing his identity to the public: first, he said he decided to come out because there are ‘threats’ to his life, while the second one was because of “tawag ng konsensya (call of conscience).”

“Nakikita ko ang pagwasak ng pamilya na dulot ng droga, na kung saan naging bahagi ako sa pagpapakalat nito noong miyembro pa ako ng sindikato (I can see the destruction of families caused by drugs, in which I became part of its spread when I was still a member of the syndicate),” he explained.

Former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, one of the personalities tagged in the anti-Duterte videos, earlier slammed the IBP, saying “Kapanipaniwala daw ang mga alegasyon ni Bikoy sabi ng IBP (IBP said that Bikoy’s allegations are believable).”

“Nakakawala ng respeto ang IBP. Mga abogado kayo, matatalino sana kayo, pero, nakapagtataka lang na ang bilis ninyong paniwalaan ang sinasabi ng isang kilalang scammer na nagpakilalang si Bikoy (I lost my respect for IBP. You are lawyers, you are supposed to be smart, but it made me wonder how quick are they to believe a statement of a known scammer who introduced himself as Bikoy),” he continued.

The IBP, on Monday, clarified that it has not yet accepted Advincula as their client as they have to evaluate first the latter’s case before deciding whether they will offer him their legal services or not.