Jimmy Guban. PHOTO FROM HREP
MANILA, Philippines — Former Bureau of Customs (BOC) intelligence officer Jimmy Guban has accused a so-called Davao group of being behind the smuggling of various items — including agricultural products — in its heyday during the past administration.
During the thirteenth hearing of the House of Representatives’ quad committee on Thursday, Guban was asked by Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong if former Customs broker Mark Taguba’s remarks about the Davao group were true — that while it was not part of BOC, it had a strong influence in Customs deals.
In response, Guban said that a huge part of the tara — a grease money system that Taguba admitted to have existed — goes to the Davao group.
“That is correct, your Honor, from the start of 2016. In fact, even ‘yong positioning sa Bureau nanggagaling sa Davao group. Kaya si Mark ay nag-eenroll sa Davao group para mabilis ang facilitation ng kargamento nila. So ‘yong P40,000 na sinasabi niyo, ‘yon ‘yong may resibo lang na pumapasok sa Customs. Maybe P10,000 or P15,000 sa shipping line. And the rest of that, do’n na ‘yon sa grupo ng Davao group,” Guban said.
(That is correct, your Honor, from the start of 2016. In fact, even the positioning in the Bureau came from Davao group. That’s why Mark enrolled payments to the Davao group so that their cargo would be quickly facilitated. So the P40,000 that you are saying, that’s that only transaction with receipts, that came into Customs. Maybe P10,000 or P15,000 to the shipping line. And the rest of that is for the Davao group.)
“So regardless na po ‘yon kung anong klase ng kargamento ang papasok [we accept it] which is kaya nag-proliferate ang illegal drugs, pati na ho agricultural products ang dami po no’n kasi hindi kontrolado ng Customs officials ang Bureau of Customs. It’s the Davao group that was controlling during that time,” he added.
(So regardless of what kind of cargo was coming in, we accepted it, which was why illegal drugs proliferated, and even agricultural products were smuggled because Customs officials did not control BOC. It was the Davao group controlling during that time.)
Quad committee lead presiding officer and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers noticed that Customs Police official Maj. Camilo Cascolan Jr. agreed with what Guban was saying.
“I saw Major Cascolan nodding his head eh, does that mean that you are confirming what Jimmy Guban is saying? So you are aware about this kind of system?” Barbers asked.
“Yes, your Honor, it has been the system, your Honor,” Cascolan replied.
Later on, La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega asked Guban and Taguba about the Davao group, to which the former BOC official said the organization was a hot commodity “from the start of the oath-taking to Malacañang,” referring to former President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.
Taguba meanwhile implicated Duterte’s son, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte, as head of the Davao group.
“Who do you think is the head or leader of this Davao group?” Ortega asked.
“Well, I think it’s Paolo Duterte,” Taguba said.
“Is that common knowledge in your workplace before? Was this talked about normally, like it’s being passed around, it’s not uncertain, and you cannot say that you are not sure?” Ortega pressed.
“Yes po, your Honor,” Taguba replied.
INQUIRER.net has contacted Rep. Duterte’s office for his comment on the issue, but his staffer said that the lawmaker would not issue a statement since they do not know each other.
This is not the first time that Taguba and Guban implicated the younger Duterte as supposedly involved in smuggling.
At the first quad committee hearing in Pampanga last August 16, Guban said he was cautioned against naming Rep. Duterte, his brother-in-law and Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband Manases Carpio, and businessman Michael Yang as involved in the “shabu” importation mess.
Rep. Duterte however questioned Guban’s credibility, saying that he does not know Guban and that he has never transacted with the former BOC official. The lawmaker also noted that the label “star witness” is only reserved for individuals with credibility and not Guban, who had been cited for contempt by the Senate blue ribbon committee.
Taguba meanwhile claimed during a previous quad committee hearing that he never retracted his allegations that Rep. Duterte was involved in the P6.4-billion shabu shipment smuggled through the BOC in 2017.
Previously, Taguba apologized to Rep. Duterte — who was then Davao City vice mayor — and Carpio for the “fake news” circulating that they were involved in the shabu shipment.