FILE PHOTO: Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents examine the magnetic lifters, which purportedly contained billions-worth of “shabu” (crystal meth) in Cavite on August 10, 2018. PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
BACOLOR, Pampanga — A former Bureau of Customs (BOC) official claimed that he was cautioned against naming Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte, his brother-in-law Manases Carpio, and businessman Michael Yang in the 2018 “shabu” importation mess.
Ex-BOC official Jimmy Guban told lawmakers at the House quad-committee hearing on Friday that former environment undersecretary Benny Antiporda sent an emissary to warn him about it and was even allegedly told that he would die if he tags Duterte, Carpio, and Yang in the controversy.
According to him, a certain Paul Gutierrez, who is supposedly part of Antiporda’s staff, relayed the death threat and that his child can also be kidnapped if he mentions the names of Duterte, Carpio, and Yang in the congressional hearings.
In 2018, both chambers of Congress – the Senate and House of Representatives – were investigating the missing P6.8-billion shabu reportedly smuggled into the country through magnetic lifters. It was the PDEA that bared that a ton of shabu with such an estimated amount had slipped into the country after authorities had found four magnetic lifters with traces of the illegal drug in a warehouse in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite.
PDEA’s discovery came three days after the BOC seized an abandoned container at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT). The container had two magnetic lifters filled with 500 kilograms of shabu valued at P4.3 billion.
Eventually, then PDEA chief Aaron Aquino said all magnetic lifters found could have encased as much as 1.6 tons of shabu valued at around P11 billion.
“A woman knocked on my cell and introduced herself as a blue ribbon staffer. After I opened the door, another person went straight to my room, and pointed at me, saying ‘Jimmy if you mention these names, you will die, especially if you get detained at the Pasay City Jail, your life will be short’,” Guban told the House public hearing on Friday, Aug. 16. Later, he disclosed that the person who threatened him was Gutierrez.
“The worst, Your Honor, was he included my child in his threats, claiming that they knew where my child was, that it is easy to kidnap my child. Your Honors, you know who are the persons whom he does not want to be named? It’s Pulong (Duterte), Mans (Carpio), and Michael Yang. He (Gutierrez) said that these are friends of Benny Antiporda, they work together, don’t you know that they hang out in Malacañang,” he added.
Rep. Paolo Duterte is the son of former President Rodrigo Duterte, while Carpio is the ex-president’s son-in-law and Rep. Duterte’s brother-in-law, being the husband of incumbent Vice President Sara Duterte. Yang, meanwhile, is the former economic adviser of former President Duterte.
Following the 2018 congressional investigations of the missing P6.8 billion shabu, Guban, former PDEA deputy director Ismael Fajardo, and former police officer Eduardo Acierto were labeled as “core conspirators” in the plan to smuggle the illegal drug into the country through magnetic lifters. Guban has since been convicted for drug importation.
During the quad-committee hearings, Bureau of Corrections officers have accompanied Guban to ensure his safety.
In the affidavit he presented to the quad-committee while under oath, Guban likewise said that a former Davao councilor urged him to ease shipping restrictions on shipments that involve Duterte, Carpio, and Yang.
“On account of our small intelligence works, various shipments were alerted and in various occasions, Councilor […] requested me ‘free up these shipments because you know these belong to Michael Yang, Pulong, at Mans’,” Guban said in his affidavit.
FILE PHOTO: PDEA chief Aaron Aquino inspects one of four magnetic lifters that contained traces of “shabu” (crystal meth) already emptied by drug traders that smuggled about P6.8 billion of the illegal drug in a Cavite warehouse on Friday, August 10, 2018. Authorities found the massive steel devices with hollowed parts where the drugs were hidden inside a warehouse in General Mariano Alvarez town in a follow-up operation after seizing 500 kilograms of shabu worth P4.3 billion (below) inside two lifters at the international container port in Manila two days earlier. PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/EDWIN BACASMAS
INQUIRER.net has reached out to the office of Rep. Duterte to obtain his comment on this issue. But he or his office has not issued any response as of writing.
Antiporda, on the other hand, said in a phone interview with INQUIRER.net that he has neither met nor talked to Rep. Duterte, Carpio, or Yang.
“I have never met Congressman Pulong, I have never met Michael Yang, I have never met Mans Carpio. Of course, I know him as the husband of the Vice President but I have never talked to them in my whole life, even by phone or what, I don’t know them. So what are these allegations?” he said.
“No person in his right mind would threaten someone while he is in an appointive position, I was an (Environment) undersecretary during that time, so common sense, right? No one would do that, and the mere fact that I do not know him, I don’t know where did he get this story? That’s my question, why was my name dragged into this issue?” he asked.
READ: Duterte administration ills still affect the country – Fernandez
Antiporda said he would attend the quad-committee hearing if the panel invites him, as he has not concealed anything.
“Yeah, I am not hiding anything, maybe if what he (Guban) is saying is true, I would have been rich already, right? But that’s not the case, yes I have businesses but you can see in my tax payments I am not doing anything wrong,” Antiporda said.
“That’s why his allegations are funny, where did he source that story? It seems that story does not look good,” he added.
The House quad-committee has launched an inquiry into the possible correlation between the illegal activities of Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hubs, foreigners owning land, proliferation of illegal drugs, public officials being bribed, and rights violations.
Earlier, House committee on public order and safety chairperson and Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez said the quad-committee needs to tackle these issues that started under the term of former president Duterte, as they still affect the country today.