DOJ chief: Person arrested by NBI not ‘Bikoy’ videos uploader

MANILA, Philippines — The person arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) who was allegedly behind the video series accusing President Rodrigo Duterte’s family of involvement in the narcotics trade was not the uploader of the controversial videos, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Thursday.

Guevarra said a certain Rodel Jayme was taken into custody after the NBI conducted forensic examination on his desktop computer, mobile phones, and ISP billing statements and discovered that he was the “registrant and the administrator” of the website metrobalita.net that “constantly” publishes the link to the videos, which allegedly facilitated their circulation on social media.

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“It appears that he was the one who started all of this by creating the website behind the subsequent uploading of the Bikoy videos. It’s just logical that the NBI starts with him,” Guevarra said in a press briefing.

NBI Cybercrime Division chief Victor Lorenzo also said that their investigation did not solely look into Jayme’s website but several accounts as well to gather more information.

“As of now, we’re still conducting a further evaluation on that matter. We’re not solely looking at metrobalita.net. Our investigation catered to several accounts also,” he said.

According to Guevarra, apart from charges for violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act, Jayme may be slapped with charges for violation of the Anti-Child Abuse law.

The Justice chief also said Jayme voluntarily went to the NBI headquarters to clarify issues before his arrest and surrendered his devices and billing statements to the NBI Cybercrime Division agents who went to his residence to implement the search warrant at around 4 a.m. on April 30. /ee

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