THE House of Representatives on Wednesday night temporarily took custody of Bureau of Customs (BOC) “fixer” Mark Taguba, a resource person of the quad committee who stood by his seven-year-old testimony linking Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, his brother-in-law Manases Carpio and other members of the so-called “Davao Group” in the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of shabu in 2017.
On motion of Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano (PL, Abang Lingkod), a co-chair of the panel, the panel detained Taguba at the House “until the termination of the hearings or until the threat to his life is eliminated.”
“Because of security threats, may I move Mr. Chairman that we request the BuCor (Bureau of Corrections), through Usec. Gregorio Catapang, for Mr. Taguba to be transferred in the House Sergeant-at-Arms until the quad committee has completed its investigation or until the perceived threats for Mr. Taguba are fully eliminated,” Paduano said.
The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 last November 18 convicted Taguba in the smuggling of the P6.4 billion shabu shipment from China in 2017 and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The incident was one of the most high-profile drug cases that took place during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte which is part of the quad committee’s investigation into the previous administration’s bloody war on drugs.
The Manila court also found guilty Taguba’s co-accused – businessman Dong Yi Shen, alias Kenneth Dong; and Eirene Mae Tatad, a consignee of the shipment.
During the joint panel’s hearing last Wednesday, an emotional Taguba decried the harassment he endured after naming Duterte and Carpio during a Senate hearing, saying he and his family received death threats.
“Pati nanay ko, balak nilang patayin (They even wanted to kill my mother),” he said, adding that his security detail from the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms at the time of his testimony was also recalled, leaving him vulnerable to intimidation and possible assassination attempts.
Taguba assailed the justice system for failing to hold powerful figures accountable, saying he was tagged a drug lord by the public while key players easily escaped prosecution.
“Mabuti sana kung ginawa ko talaga. Kung mayroon man akong kasalanan, ayun po yung sa ‘tara’ system. Totoo naman po talaga ‘yun (It would have been acceptable if I really did it. If I had a mistake, that was the ‘tara’ system. That’s true),” he said. “Yung shabu hindi ko po talaga ginawa ‘yan. Hindi ko po gagawin ‘yan kailanman (But the one regarding the shabu, I didn’t do it. I will never be involved in something like that.)”
Taguba has revealed in congressional hearings that he has been paying tara, or grease money, to some customs officials and officers waive inspections of and expedite his shipments.
Taguba has denied knowing that the May 23, 2017 shipment from China contained illegal drugs which authorities seized at the Hongfei Warehouse in Valenzuela City on May 26 that year. The true owners of the contraband remain unknown until now.
The court’s 18-page decision penned by Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa said the prosecution “was able to establish that the accused (Taguba) imported methamphetamine hydrochloride, a dangerous drug, into the Philippines without being authorized by law.”
The case against Chen Julong, alias Richard Tan or Richard Chen, the owner of the warehouse; Li Guang Feng, alias Manny Li, Teejay Marcellana, Chen I-Min, Jhu Ming Jyun, Chen Rong Huan and several John and Jane Does were sent to the court archives pending their arrest.
The court said the arrest warrants against the accused will remain active.
Taguba denied ever recanting his allegations against Duterte and Carpio, saying his statements before the Senate and House investigations seven years ago remain the same.
“Wala po akong na-recant sa affidavit ko kina Pulong Duterte po (I didn’t recant anything about Pulong Duterte and others in my affidavit),” Taguba told Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro.
Taguba however admitted apologizing to the then-presidential son at a press conference amid intense pressure and security concerns but stressed that he never recanted his testimonies.
Taguba had accused the Davao Group of manipulating Customs operations through key intermediaries, including Davao City Councilor Nilo “Small” Abellera, who attended the quad committee’s hearing.
He claimed that he paid Abellera, an alleged associate of Pulong Duterte, a P5 million “enrollment fee” to avail of the group’s services and gain access to the younger Duterte.
Abellera admitted meeting Taguba in Davao City but denied receiving money from him, stating that his requests were rejected. Taguba had insisted that “he received the money.”
Taguba reiterated his testimony against Carpio, the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, saying the money was funneled through Davao Group personalities like “Tita Nani.”
CONTEMPT
The joint panel on Wednesday night also lifted the contempt citation and detention order on former Mexico, Pampanga mayor Teddy Tumang on the condition that he will attend the next hearing.
The panel cited Tumang in contempt earlier the same day and ordered him detained at the Batasang Pambasa after he drew Paduano’s ire for allegedly lying and evading questions about the warehouse in Mexico where a shabu shipment was found last year.
In his letter to the joint panel, Tumang expressed his “most profound apologies for any conduct that may have been perceived by this honorable committee to be non-cooperative and disrespectful.”
“And I affirm my commitment once again to help this Honorable committee in all hearings, proceedings, and investigations,” Tumang said. “With that I humbly beg the compassion and the indulgence to lift the order of contempt, for I have no willful intent to refuse to answer the inquiries.”
Paduano then moved that the panel lift the contempt citation and detention order “for humanitarian reasons and for medical reasons,” citing the condition of Tumang who said he is suffering from diabetes and “my blood pressure is not good when I was checked by the attending House physician.”
Tumang was cited contempt after Luistro tried to establish the links between the P3.6 billion worth of shabu seized by the authorities in a warehouse in Barangay San Jose Malino in Mexico in September 2023 and the acquisition by Chinese nationals of “320 landholdings” in that town.
She said the Chinese nationals, including Aedy Ty Yang and Willy Ong, were the incorporators, together with other Chinese, of Empire 999, the realty firm that owned the warehouse in Barangay San Jose Malino.
Luistro said it was clear that illegal drug money was used to buy large tracts of lands in Mexico, with the Chinese nationals using bogus birth certificates showing they are Filipinos.
Tumang initially denied personally knowing Yang and Ong, adding that he only met the two when they came to his office to buy land in his town which he said did not mean that he “personally” knew them, infuriating Paduano who said the former mayor was lying and said that he has evidence that the former mayor personally knew Aedy Yang and “in fact, you travelled together to Fujian in China.”
Luistro has said Tumang “knowingly supported the illegal acquisition of land by Aedy Yang and Willie Ong under Empire 999 in Mexico, Pampanga,” adding that Tumang was already acquainted with the two Chinese citizens before his 2017 trip to Fujian, China, with Yang.
DIMISSED OFFICERS
Dismissed police officers from the Western Visayas led by former regional intelligence chief PSupt. Ronald Allan Gepana and Gen. Bernardo Diaz also attended the hearing to denounce what they said was their unjust removal from the service after the former president named them on August 7, 2016 as among those supposedly involved in illegal drugs.
“Almost all were formerly assigned with Iloilo City Police Office. Some were former city directors, intelligence officers and station commanders, which was then under the operational control of Iloilo City mayor Jed Mabilog, who was also included in the list,” Gepana said.
Mabilog, who was threatened to be killed by the former president for his alleged involvement in the illegal drugs trade, revealed during one of the panel’s hearings of an alleged plot to force him to link Liberal Party stalwarts former senators Mar Roxas and Franklin Drilon to the illicit narcotics business.
The mayor, who was forced to go on a self-exile in the United States, denied being a drug protector, saying the Duterte administration used a fabricated drug list to persecute political rivals, with personalities unjustly implicated without due process.
Gepana said that when he and other officers named in the drug list reported to Camp Crame on August 8, 2016, they were scolded and humiliated on national television without being given the chance to explain their side.
“In the bar of public opinion, we were already adjudged guilty,” he said, adding that their group received a memo with no specific charges from the Western Visayas office of National Police Commission (Napolcom).
“We were made to report to PNP-IAS (PNP Internal Affairs Service), where they interviewed us. But nothing came out of it and no charges were filed. We were then assigned to PHAO DPRM (Police Holding and Accounting Office Directorate for Personal Records Management), placed on floating status, and months after were eventually charged by Napolcom VI,” Gepana said.
Gepana said the Napolcom removed them from service in 2021 without giving them copies of the resolution explaining the decision, which prompted some of them to file complaints before the Civil Service Commission. On the other hand, Diaz’s case is still pending before the Supreme Court.
“We hope that those responsible for this injustice, including those people who knew it was wrong but still covered it up by their silence and inaction, will be held accountable,” he said.
Napolcom vice chairperson Ricardo Bernabe said it seems that based on the evidence, the case against the officers were weak.
“Based on evidence po, baka manipis (it seems weak) and they relied on the President’s pronouncement. ‘Yun ginamit (That was used) to find probable cause and sufficient evidence,” he told the joint panel.