PAMPANGA, Philippines – Jimmy Guban, a former intelligence officer of the Bureau of Customs, implicated two members of the Duterte family and former presidential adviser Michael Yang to illegal drugs during the House quad committee‘s inquiry in Bacolor, Pampanga on Friday, August 16.
Guban, a surprise witness in the probe, accused Davao 1st District Representative Paolo Duterte, Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband Mans Carpio, and former economic adviser Yang of involvement in illegal drug importation. The former customs official claimed that the three owned the magnetic lifters which concealed P11-billion worth of illegal drugs that were seized in Cavite back in 2018.
In his sworn statement, Guban also mentioned several others: Davao City Councilor Nilo Abellera Jr., former environment undersecretary Benny Antiporda, Presidential Task Force on Media Security Executive Director Paul Gutierrez, Ernan Abario, a Chinese national named “Henry,” and Poney Chen. The House panel has issued a show cause order to the personalities mentioned by Guban in his sworn statement.
Dangerous drugs committee chairperson and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers said Guban’s revelation shows that some people are not just involved in smuggling, but rather to a broader network that might include other illegal practices such as money laundering.
“Guban’s testimony on the container of drugs being allowed to slip through is really significant,” Barbers told Rappler in Filipino. “The significance in his statement is [identifying] the people allowing [the illegal drugs] to slip through.”
“This came out just now. In the next hearing, the pieces in the puzzle will be completed and will substantiate our theory that drug money and proceeds of criminal activities are being used to corrupt government officials, including the purchase of land, and the establishment of businesses to launder money,” he added.
Initially, Guban refrained from naming Duterte, Carpio, and Yang in his allegations. Instead, he pointed to former anti-drug cop Eduardo Acierto as having knowledge about the illegal drug shipments. Guban recanted his statements against Acierto in an affidavit submitted during a trial in 2023.
Guban has been detained at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City since 2018, following his alleged involvement in the shipment of magnetic filters found in Cavite. Former president Rodrigo Duterte ordered his arrest and he has been sentenced to life imprisonment since.
There’s a standing arrest order against Yang, after he was cited in contempt by House committee on dangerous drugs for failing to attend the legislative probe. Yang has been invited by the House panel for his alleged involvement in a P3.6-billion drug bust in Mexico, Pampanga in 2023. Duterte’s former adviser was allegedly linked to the incorporator of Empire 999 Realty Corporation, a warehouse in the Pampanga town, where the multibillion-peso shabu was seized.
Meanwhile, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV has filed a drug smuggling complaint against the younger Duterte and Carpio last July 31. Trillanes tagged Duterte and Carpio in the P6.4-billion shabu haul in Valenzuela City in 2017, through the testimony of customs broker Mark Ruben Taguba.
Representative Duterte issued a statement later Friday denying Guban’s claims.
“I don’t know Jimmy Guban and I am sure he doesn’t know me. We never had a transaction so there is no reason for him to be threatened should he bring my name up,” Duterte said in Filipino.
Other men whose names were brought up by Guban in Friday’s inquiry also came forward to dispel the accusations.
“Time and again, Guban has been proven to be an inveterate liar. Our lawmakers should therefore be forewarned in believing anything he says,” Gutierrez said. “As my conscience is clear, I am not bothered at all by all the lies Guban has been making nowadays.”
“Mr. Guban’s allegations are lies of great magnitude as magnified by the fact that it lacks any evidentiary support but his self-serving allegations,” Antiporda added. – with reports from Jairo Bolledo, Dwight de Leon/Rappler.com