Presidential son-in-law tagged in smuggling calls Trillanes a ‘desperate rumor-monger’

DAVAO CITY — Presidential son-in-law Atty. Manases Carpio denied the accusations hurled by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV that he is involved in smuggling, dismissing it as a work of a “desperate rumor-monger.”

In a statement posted on his Facebook account around 1 p.m. Tuesday, Carpio, the husband of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, said he “represents many clients who have transactions in the Bureau of Customs.”

The statement came following a testimony of a Customs official who said he saw Carpio met with former Customs chief Nicanor Faeldon.

“It is my job as a lawyer to appear before government agencies for and on behalf of my principals,” Carpio said.

He said the Senator is “imputing malice” in linking his appearance at the BOC to smuggling.

“He is just a desperate rumor-monger who happens to be a Senator,” Carpio added.

Customs intelligence chief Neil Estrella told the Senate hearing that he saw Carpio visit the BOC.

Estrella, however, admitted that he only chanced upon Carpio coming out of Faeldon’s office.

Meanwhile, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte has not issued a statement on the recent accusations.

Davao City Councilor Nilo “Small” Abellera Jr. has told the Senate blue ribbon committee he has no knowledge on the 16.4-billion shabu shipment that slipped past the Bureau of Customs (BOC) last May.

Abellera made the claim in his threepage affidavit which was read by the committee’s secretary at yesterday’s continuation of the Senate’s probe into the illegal drug shipment which was seized by Customs authorities in a warehouse in Valenzuela City.

“I hereby state that I have no knowledge, let alone any participation, on the shipment of shabu from China, [which is the] subject matter of the current Senate investigation,” said Abellera in his affidavit which was read by Senate blue ribbon secretary Rodolfo Noel Quimbo.