Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Barbers
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
BACOLOR, Pampanga — Despite delivering a bombshell testimony, former Bureau of Customs (BOC) intelligence officer Jimmy Guban’s claims linking personalities to the missing shabu shipment in 2018 will still be assessed by the committee to determine their validity.
Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers made this clarification on Friday, in an interview with reporters after the House of Representatives quad-committee’s first hearing ended.
According to Barbers, Guban’s claims will still be studied if it will be used in the final committee report.
“We will really weigh this information, you can expect that the committee will not come up with any politically motivated committee reports here, because we only want the truth. This is for the country and our children,” Barbers said.
“We will study, so now we just listened to him, we saw that the topics he raised had connections to the subject matter that the quad-committee wants to investigate, that’s why we will weigh this if this should be believed by the committee,” he added.
Guban, during the quad-committee hearing, said that former Environment undersecretary Benny Antiporda sent emissaries in 2018 to warn the then Customs intel officer that he will die if he names Davao City 1st District Rep. Duterte, his brother-in-law Atty. Manases Carpio, and businessman Michael Yang, as those involved in the illegal drugs shipment last 2018.
The former Customs official was referring to a ton of shabu worth P6.8 billion, concealed in a magnetic lifter, which eluded authorities in 2018. The House and the Senate investigated the matter and Guban appeared in the hearings — where he was cited for contempt.
READ: 1 ton of shabu worth P6.8B eludes PDEA, PNP
Guban said that a certain Paul Gutierrez, supposedly part of Antiporda’s staff, relayed the death threat and even said that his child can be kidnapped if he mentions the said individuals.
READ: ‘Don’t name Paolo Duterte, Mans Carpio, Yang in 2018 shabu import mess’
Rep. Duterte, Antiporda, and Gutierrez — who currently heads the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) — have separately denied Guban’s accusations. According to Rep. Duterte, he has never met Guban, adding that the former BOC official cannot be treated as a star witness as he is not credible, having been cited for contempt for lying during the Senate blue ribbon committee.
READ: Rep. Duterte denies knowing Guban, calls him not credible as witness
Barbers on the other hand said he does not want to conclude immediately that Guban’s testimony is already credible or not.
“In fairness ah, in fairness, I don’t want to say that it’s not credible, or is it credible, what I am asking is for us to look at the issues. Because for me, I have an opinion on the matter, right? But I have to decide on the basis of the collective wisdom of the committee,” he added.
Rep. Duterte was one of the individuals that House committee on human rights chairperson and Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. asked to be invited to the next quad-committee hearing. The other individuals are Carpio, former Davao councilor Nilo Abellera Jr., Antiporda, and Gutierrez.
Rep. Duterte is the son of former president Rodrigo Duterte, while Carpio is the former president’s son-in-law, being the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte. Yang, meanwhile, is the former economic adviser of former president Duterte.
READ: Acierto, ex-PDEA officer, others indicted over shabu in magnetic lifters
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 for drug importation. During the quad-committee hearings, he was accompanied by Bureau of Corrections officers who secured him.