Names dropped by ex-BOC exec invited to next quad-comm hearing

Resigned Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban. INQUIRER.NET PHOTO/CATHY MIRANDA

BACOLOR, Pampanga — Names dropped by former Bureau of Customs (BOC) intelligence officer Jimmy Guban — including personalities linked to former president Rodrigo Duterte — have been invited to the next House of Representatives quad-committee hearing.

At the tail end of the hearing here on Friday, House committee on human rights chairperson and Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. moved to invite the following:

• Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte
• Lawyer Manases Carpio
• Former Davao councilor Nilo Abellera Jr.
• Former Environment undersecretary Benny Antiporda
• Paul Gutierrez

“I also would like to make a motion that those names mentioned by Mr. Jimmy Guban be invited in the next hearing, Mr. Chair. That would be Small Abellera […] Congressman Pulong Duterte, Atty. Mans Carpio, Benny Antiporda, Paul Gutierrez, and almost all the names mentioned by Mr. Jimmy Guban,” Abante said.

1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez meanwhile asked that a certain Ernan Abario which Guban also mentioned in his affidavit be included among the individuals to be invited.

Gutierrez and Abante’s motions were then approved by House committee on dangerous drugs chairperson and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, who presided over the hearing.

Guban’s testimony at the quad-committee became the focus after he accused Antiporda of sending an emissary to warn him that he would die if he named Duterte, Carpio, and businessman Michael Yang as individuals involved in the missing illegal drugs that were shipped by concealing them inside magnetic lifters back in 2018.

Guban said that a certain Paul Gutierrez, supposedly part of Antiporda’s staff, relayed the death threat and even said that his child could be kidnapped if he mentioned the said individuals.

The Senate and the House were then hearing the issue of illegal drugs concealed inside magnetic lifters that had eluded authorities.

“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 said, later revealing 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, [do] 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.

READ: ‘Don’t name Paolo Duterte, Mans Carpio, Yang in 2018 shabu import mess’

Rep. Duterte is the son of former President Duterte, while Carpio is the ex-president’s son-in-law and the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte.  Yang, meanwhile, is the former economic adviser of the former president.

The lawmaker has yet to address the claims of Guban, but 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.

Antiporda also said that he would attend the quad-committee hearing if the panel invites him, as he has not hidden anything.

Guban appeared in the Senate and House hearings in 2018 after anti-narcotics agents found that one ton of shabu worth P6.8 billion eluded authorities. The illegal substance was concealed using magnetic lifters.

According to then Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) head Aaron Aquino, the magnetic lifters were similar to the one seized previously at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT).

READ: 1 ton of shabu worth P6.8B eludes PDEA, PNP

Eventually, Aquino said that the magnetic lifters could have encased as much as 1.6 tons of shabu, worth P11 billion.

Guban, former PDEA deputy director Ismael Fajardo, and former police officer Eduardo Acierto meanwhile were labeled as “core conspirators” in the plan to smuggle shabu into the country using the magnetic lifters.

Guban has been convicted of drug importation.  During the quad-committee hearings, he was accompanied by Bureau of Corrections officers who secured him.