Jimmy Guban. —Photo via HREP
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa plans to summon a former customs intelligence officer to a separate Senate investigation into allegations made during a House hearing that former President Rodrigo Duterte’s son, son-in-law and Chinese economic adviser were in possession of P11 billion worth of drugs smuggled into the Philippines in 2018.
Rep. Dela Rosa said during a House of Representatives four-section “Special Committee” hearing in Bacolor, Pampanga on Friday that she will launch a parallel investigation into Jimmy Gubang’s “highly implausible” allegations.
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In his testimony, Gubang accused Davao City Councilor Paolo “Pulong” Duterte, lawyer Manasses “Mance” Carpio (husband of Vice President Sara Duterte) and former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang of being behind the smuggling of “shabu” (methamphetamine) from China six years ago.
The two magnetic lifters, which arrived in June 2018, were abandoned at the Manila International Container Terminal and were opened on August 7 to find they were carrying 355 kilograms of shabu with an estimated value of P3.4 billion, but were erroneously reported as worth P11 billion.
Four identical lift trucks that arrived in July were found empty at a warehouse in Cavite province on August 8. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) estimated they contained 1.6 tons of shabu, valued at P11 billion.
Guban told lawmakers that when he appeared before a Senate inquiry into the contraband discovery in October that year, he was forced to take part in a “massive conspiracy” to vindicate the former president’s family and friends.
Dela Rosa, in an interview with dwIZ radio, said he would submit a resolution on Monday to the Senate Committee on Security and Dangerous Drugs, which he chairs, to conduct a similar investigation.
Obviously a “script”
However, at this point, the senators appear to have already made preconceived judgments about Gubang’s credibility and Paolo and Carpio’s innocence.
“Why are you saying this now? The way he testified makes it clear that it was scripted and unbelievable,” Dela Rosa said.
“The lack of credibility of that individual is clear. He is a convicted criminal, a convicted drug trafficker,” he added.
“The stories he’s just telling and the names he’s giving are just so unbelievable, so incredible.”
Dela Rosa also pointed out that Gubang, who is currently serving a life sentence at New Bilibid Prison for conspiracy to traffic illegal drugs, had named former police colonel Eduardo Acierto as someone he had asked to find the recipients of his illegal drug shipments.
Gubang had already retracted the allegations against Acierto.
Gubang was arrested and detained on suspicion of conspiring to import 355 kilograms of shabu that was found in two magnetic lifters at the Manila International Container Terminal.
Moves vs Trillanes
He told lawmakers that Jun Vicente de Guzman, then deputy director of the National Bureau of Investigation, asked him to indict former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, an “arch-enemy of President Duterte,” as the culprit in the controversy in order to get him released from prison.
Gubang told lawmakers that the conversation implicating Trillanes took place during a phone call with De Guzman while De Guzman was being transferred from NBI custody to the Manila City Jail in 2018.
“I was asking how they could help me,” he said. “He said the director (former NBI director Dante Gierran) had advised me to sign the NBI report (implicating) the former senator, and that if I signed it, I would be free.”
Rep. Joseph Paduano of Abang Lingod, chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts, filed the motion to summon Gierran, who later served as head of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, and de Guzman, who retired from the NBI last week.
Duterte’s son and two others implicated by Gubang — former National Irrigation Authority chief Benny Antiporda and Presidential Media Security Task Force head Paul Gutierrez — have both denied the allegations and called Gubang a liar.
There is no logic
The Public Accounts Committee is one of four committees that make up QuadCom – the others are the committees on dangerous drugs, public order and safety, and human rights.
According to Dela Rosa, it would have been impossible for the previous administration to blackmail Gubang into linking Trillanes to drug trafficking.
“What on earth is this?” Dela Rosa said. “Why would you try to implicate Trillanes in illegal drugs? Can you believe it? Even if you’re angry with Trillanes, you’ll never believe he’s involved in illegal drugs.”
“There’s no logic to doing that,” he said.
Dela Rosa said he would still invite Gubang to the Senate investigation, along with Duterte, Carpio and Antiporda, whose names were mentioned in the House hearing.
Beware of being “hijacked”
Dela Rosa, one of Duterte’s closest aides and the first national police chief during the president’s administration, said he just hoped his resolution would not be “hijacked” by Congress.
Asked for details, he said his resolution may not be referred to the committee and he may not be able to lead the investigation.
The police chief-turned-senator said he expected lawmakers to respect his decision to hold a separate legislative investigation into Guban’s allegations.
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“We are respecting inter-parliamentary courtesy. We will not interfere in their investigations, and they should not interfere in ours,” Dela Rosa added. “They are free to do what they want, and we are free to do what we want.”
