Senate to get Chinese execs’ side on P6.4-B shabu

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate Blue Ribbon committee will try to secure the testimonies of the customs officials in Xiamen, China who tipped off their Philippine counterparts on the smuggling of P6.4 billion in methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu in May, Sen. Richard Gordon said yesterday.

He said the request would be coursed through the office of Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and the Department of Foreign Affairs. 

“I hope we could get their statements and obtain a complete picture of what happened,” Gordon said, referring to the smuggling of 604 kilos of shabu from Xiamen through the green lane of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on May 23.

Contained in steel cylinders, the shipment was seized in a warehouse by the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) on May 26.

The committee resumes today its inquiry into the controversy, which triggered calls for BOC Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon and his subordinates to resign.

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said Faeldon should spare President Duterte the embarrassment the smuggling has created, adding that the BOC chief should step down voluntarily.?“It is a big embarrassment to President Duterte who ordered the raid of illegal drugs laboratories all over the country. This time, they (BOC officials) are allowing the entry of illegal drugs through Customs,” Barbers stressed. 

The House committee on dangerous drugs would be coming out with a recommendation for Duterte to dismiss Faeldon for “gross incompetence and corruption,” he added.

Aside from his committee, Barbers said the House committee on good government and public accountability, headed by Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, might conduct an investigation on the anti-graft and corrupt practices aspect as the committee on ways and means, chaired by Quirino Rep. Dakila Cua, would look into revenue losses.

Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting – chairman of the House committee on games and amusement – also called on Faeldon to resign because of the “damning evidence of corruption and mismanagement” in the BOC. 

As example, he cited the hiring of Philippine Basketball Association players and female volleyball players as technical assistants and intelligence agents, paying them a monthly salary of P50,000 each.

“Instead of hiring qualified and properly trained intelligence operatives, Faeldon consciously chose to engage the services of professional athletes with zero training or experience in field intelligence operations, or even in Customs administration,” Tambunting lamented. 

Sen. Panfilo Lacson told reporters that he intends to bare a list of suspected “bagmen” of Faeldon and other BOC officials who receive bribe money from various customs brokers.

Go to court

Meanwhile, Malacañang yesterday challenged the critics of presidential son and Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte to file cases before the court if they have evidence linking him to irregularities.

The vice mayor was dragged into the Customs corruption scandal after importer Mark Taguba revealed in a House probe that the younger Duterte’s name was mentioned in the bribe deals. 

Taguba said a certain “Tita Nanie,” to whom he was giving P10,000 in grease money per container, had informed him that the payment would go to a “Davao group” led by the vice mayor. He admitted though that it is possible that Duterte’s name was just used by corrupt Customs officials.

Photos of Duterte with Kenneth Dong, a businessman implicated in the shabu shipment scandal, circulated online, creating suspicions that the presidential son could be involved in smuggling.

Dong was identified by Taguba as the “middleman” of Richard Chen, owner of Hongfei Logistics, which transported the shabu shipment to a warehouse in Valenzuela.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the photos would just be taken as “propaganda” if those who are spreading them fail to prove the link between Duterte and the smugglers.

“If there is anything serious regarding this matter, they should raise the issue at the proper venue and not beat around the bush… at the end of the day… what does it become? It becomes a trial by publicity,” Abella said.

“It’s different when in the court and different when there is really documentary evidence. What is important is the documentary evidence, not just hearsay, not just information that he is in the list… otherwise all of these things are just speculations, propaganda,” he added.

President Duterte has said he is ready to step down if any of his children committed corruption.

“Corruption was really one I do not like. Even my son is being dragged in the issues involving Customs. I told you before and I’m telling you now again, if any of my children is involved in corruption, I will immediately resign. That, you have my word,” the President said last Aug. 9. – With Alexis Romero, Delon Porcalla