Ex-Customs exec welcomes Ombudsman’s probe of ‘shabu’ bust

Resigned Customs intelligence chief Neil Anthony Estrella on Wednesday welcomed the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the controversial seizure of P6.4 billion worth of illegal drugs, which dragged some members of President Duterte’s family.

“We’re happy that the Ombudsman would conduct its own investigation. I think the Ombudsman will be fair,” Estrella told reporters after attending a hearing at the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“We also want to emphasize that our conscience is clear. We did our job to prevent these drugs to reach the streets. That’s why we’re really puzzled why we were charged,” he added.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales issued an order on Oct. 13 creating a fact-finding team to look into the shipment of 605 kilos of “shabu” (crystal meth).

Confessed customs fixer Mark Taguba II had told a Senate inquiry that a so-called Davao Group, allegedly led by the President’s son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, and son-in-law, Manases Carpio, helped facilitate the smuggling of the illegal drugs.

Accompanied by his lawyer, Estrella submitted his rejoinder affidavit as the DOJ panel of prosecutors wound up its preliminary investigation into the criminal charges filed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) against him and other Bureau of Customs officers.

Estrella, a retired Marine colonel, expressed confidence that the DOJ would absolve him as he lashed out at PDEA officials for allegedly filing a “faulty complaint” that would only let off the hook Taguba and other individuals implicated in the drug shipment.

He said the antinarcotics agents had conflicting statements regarding the raid, which Estrella headed, that led to the recovery of the illegal drugs inside a warehouse in Valenzuela City four months ago.

“They [PDEA officials] could not even say what we did wrong. They failed to mention anything about it in their complaint. We feel at this point, we’re [already] vindicated,” he said.

In his affidavit, the former Customs intelligence official reiterated that the complaint against him should be dismissed “not only for lack of probable cause, but also for utter lack of merit.”

Estrella said: “This complaint is [a] Damocles’ sword with a difference. It does not hang, for the weight of its improbability would cause it to fall sooner that it would have any value to those wishing to profit from it.”

In their separate affidavit, resigned Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon and his fiancée, Jelina Maree Magsuci, said the testimony of PDEA official Norman Balquiedra was an admission that the allegations against them were just hearsay.

“Such admission, incidentally, is not even true, for this Balquiedra’s allegations are not just hearsay, but in fact double hearsay, as well as the products of his fertile imagination,” Faeldon and Magsuci said in their joint affidavit.