Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed the identity of the man who allegedly published the “Totoong Narco-list” videos on Youtube featuring a hooded man with an alias “Bikoy”.
In a press conference, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra revealed that a certain Rodel Jayme was invited by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for allegedly publishing the video accusing the presidential family of receiving kickbacks from illegal businesses.
Rodel Jayme (right) with Vice President Leni Robredo (left)
According to their investigation, Jayme was the owner of Metro Balita, one of the first websites that first shared the videos on the internet.
However, he clarified that they’re not still sure if Bikoy and Jayme are the same person.
Guevarra revealed that he ordered a joint investigation about the said videos on Holy Wednesday and on April 29, Makati RTC Judge Andres Soriano issued a search warrant against Jayme. On the next day, Jayme home was raided by the authorities.
On April 25, blogger Sass Rogando Sasot already accused Jayme of being the owner of Metro Balita, showing the advertisement banner ID of the said website.
“Metrobalita.net’s AdSense ID is 9287075011637877. Some of my readers were able to trace all the websites bearing that ID, which eventually led us to the identity of the person behind metrobalita.net. Out of fear for their lives, they asked me not to disclose the identities revealed.” Sasot said.
“Google AdSense ID 9287075011637877 can also be seen in another online version of Metro Balita, when it was still a dot com instead of a dot net website. The domain registrant of the old dot com version is Rodel Jayme. This information is publicly accessible via WHOXY, an online tool that reveals the domain registration records of websites.” she added.
The matrix revealed by Palace also showed Metro Balita as part of the conspiracy behind the alleged destabilization plot against the current administration.
Correction: The surname of Rodel is Jayme, not Jaime as earlier reported.