Trillanes sues Rep. Duterte, VP’s husband, ex-BOC head for drug smuggling

Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes files a drug smuggling complaint against Davao City First District Rep. Paolo Duterte, Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband Mans Carpio, and other respondents at the Department of Justice on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (Photo from TETCH TORRES-TUPAS / INQUIRER.net)

MANILA, Philippines — Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV filed a drug smuggling case before the Department of Justice on Wednesday against Davao City First District Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte, Atty. Mans Carpio – the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, former Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, and several other personalities allegedly involved in the P6.4 billion shabu shipment seized in 2017.

Also named respondents are Taiwanese businessman Charlie Tan, some Davao local officials, a Taiwanese businessman and a retired military official from Davao.

READ: BOC: Evidence ‘sufficient’ on P6.4-B shabu conspiracy

The case stemmed from a May 2017 issue where 602.2 kilograms of crystal meth, worth P6.4 billion, were imported from China using the Bureau of Customs’ express lane.

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee conducted a series of public hearings, which revealed that the contraband was given a “green lane” passage to slip through the Customs’s alert system and did not undergo physical inspection or document verification.

“This morning, I filed a case against Pulong Duterte and other members of the Davao group smuggling syndicate,” Trillanes told reporters.

“This is the result of the Senate investigations conducted in 2017, in which we have identified Pulong, Charlie Tan, and Mans Carpio, as the masterminds behind the Php6.4 billion shabu shipment that was allowed to slip through Customs in collaboration with its Commissioner Nic Faeldon and former Presidential Adviser Allen Capuyan, who was known as the ‘Big Brother,’” he recalled.

“The conspiracy to import the subject shipment from China to the Philippines necessitated the crucial interventions of the ‘powerful insiders’- the corrupt customs leadership, and more importantly, the very powerful protectors who used their influence to consummate this unlawful crime of importation of billions of pesos worth of dangerous drugs into the country,” he said.

Trillanes also claimed the 10 respondents violated Section 4 in relation to Section 26(a) of Republic Act No. 9165, also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 as amended by Republic Act No. 10640; and Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

“Dito mo makikita na fake ang war on drugs ni Duterte. Libu-libo ang mga pinatay na hinihinalang drug addicts pero sila mismo pala ang protektor at ka-partner ng mga big-time drug lords. Pinatay lang nila ang kompetisyon sa illegal drug trade,” the former senator noted.

(This is where you can see that Duterte’s war on drugs is fake. Thousands of suspected drug addicts were killed, but it turns out they were the protectors and partners of big-time drug lords. They just eliminated the competition in the illegal drug trade.)

Furthermore, Trillanes noted that there are credible documentary and testimonial evidence gathered against the respondents.

“Solid yung ebidensya na nakalap natin kaya we’re confident na magdi-diretso diretso ito sa korte,” he said.

(The evidence we gathered is solid so we’re confident that it will go straight to court.)

The former senator also alleged that Tan is the main drug lord in the case.

“Ang pinaka-drug lord dito ay si Charlie Tan na ka-partner ito ni Michael Yang. Magkaparehas sila ng triad. Tapos, ang naging protektor ay sina Pulong at Mans Carpio,” he said.

(The main drug lord here is Charlie Tan. He is the partner of Michael Yang. They have the same triad. Then, the protectors were Pulong and Mans Carpio.)

“Ang naging facilitators naman nito na naipasok ito at naipuslit palabas ng customs ay sina Faeldon, sina (former Presidential Adviser for Indigenous Peoples’ Concern) Allen Capuyan at iba pa na na-mention doon sa case,” he said.

(These facilitators here that’s why it was brought into and smuggled out of customs were Faeldon, Allen Capuyan and others who were mentioned in the case.)

The former senator said the charge is non-bailable and the respondents’ cooperation in solving the case is crucial.

“Itong mga respondents dito ay talagang kailangan nilang mag-isip isip nang malalim kung sino sa kanila magco-cooperate. Conspiracy ito kaya the act of one is the act of all. Kaya pag na-detain yung isa, detained silang lahat,” he warned.

(These respondents here really need to think deeply on who among them will cooperate. This is a conspiracy so the act of one is the act of all. So when one is detained, they are all detained.)

Meanwhile, in his complaint affidavit, Trillanes further stressed that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee was able to establish that there had been a conspiracy among the respondents to accomplish such an act.

READ: BIR: Taguba earned P1.2 billion as Customs ‘fixer’ in 2016

“The spate of hearings in the Senate unraveled that at the center of the conspiracy to commit this grand outlawry was a Filipino customs broker and trucking proprietor named Mark Ruben Taguba II,” the affidavit read.

“However, it bears stressing that Taguba could not have done this alone,” it emphasized.

“The conspiracy to import the subject shipment from China to the Philippines necessitated the crucial acts of the ‘persons from the inside’ – the corrupt customs officials, and more critically, the very powerful ‘players’ who used their influence to consummate this unlawful crime of importation of billions of pesos worth of dangerous drugs to the country,” it noted.

INQUIRER.net has sought a comment from the Office of the Vice President regarding the issue, but it has yet to respond as of posting time.