BY VICTOR REYES AND ASHZEL HACHERO
THE PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) yesterday said the man shown in the “polvoron video” was not President Marcos Jr as authorities vowed to file charges against the people behind the malicious video.
A group linked to former President Duterte played the video during a protest rally in Los Angeles last Monday, hours before President Marcos Jr’ State of the Nation Address.
The man on the video was shown sniffing white powdery substance from a plastic sachet.
In a joint press conference with the NBI, ACG director Brig. Gen. Ronnie Francis Cariaga they used “multiple algorithms” in the conduct of the probe.
“The algorithms show he (man on the video) is not the President… There is significant discrepancy in the facial features of the President (and the man on the video),” he said.
Cariaga said the size of the ears and the shape of the eyes of the President and the man in the video are different.
Cariaga also said they have identified some people who spread the video but did not name names. He said these people will be the “focus ow of our investigation.”
Authorities have said the video was fake. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr on Monday said the video was part of efforts to destabilize the Marcos administration.
Yesterday, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr said: “As far as far these two (President and the man on the video) are concerned, they have own unique characteristics of the ear.”
“Definitely, he (man on the video) is not the President…As far as the PNP is concerned, he is not the President,” he said.
Abalos said they are coordinating with the NBI for the filing charges behind the video.
“We are discussing the next steps that should be taken. But one thing is certain, people should be held accountable for this,” said Abalos.
NBI Cybercrime Division chief Jeremy Lotoc forensic analysis conducted by the NBI and the PNP showed significant discrepancies in the features of the man in the video and Marcos, particularly the ears, eyes, nose and the sideburns.
He explained the process by which their forensic experts came up with the finding, adding that photos taken from the video were analyzed through a video spectral comparator, which he said was a spectral imaging process for forensic examination and authentication.
Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres said the intention of those behind the viral video “is really to make a misrepresentation.”
“This impostor trying to misrepresent himself as an image of the President doing unsavory acts,” Andres said.
He also said investigators have “substantial leads on how we will be able to identify the perpetrators of this malicious video.”
NBI Director Jaime Santiago echoed Andres’ remarks and said the agency is gathering evidence for filing an “airtight” case against the perpetrators.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night said a negative result from a hair follicle test by a credible drug testing center would suffice to “erase all doubts” stemming from the allegations of drug use that are being thrown at President Marcos Jr.
He also said “the Marcos administration’s feeble attempt to dismiss the video by simple denial actually reinforces the simmering suspicion of President Marcos’ drug addiction.”
He also said that the denial issued by the Department of National Defense is a slap in the face of every patriotic and honorable soldier who lives by the military’s highest code of conduct.
“With due apologies to all the experts who vouched for the authenticity of the video, the refusal of President Marcos to undergo the hair follicle drug test is the best proof not only of the video’s authenticity but, worse, his drug addiction,” Duterte said.
Duterte, meanwhile, said the Hakbang Maisug leadership had nothing to do with the release of the video, adding it was done by some volunteers without the group’s approval.
“It was a decision made entirely by the Maisug volunteers in the said two places without the knowledge and imprimatur of the Maisug organizing committee. The members of the Maisug leadership [are] just as surprised as the rest of the country when they saw it for the first time,” he said.
The former President had previously alleged that Marcos was a drug addict and was even included in the drug watch list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). PDEA had denied that the President had been in their watchlist. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
