Unearthing the truth

Customs broker Mark Taguba did not say that the son and son-in-law of President Duterte were involved in smuggling or other anomalies in the Bureau of Customs.

What Taguba told the Senate was that he paid P5 million to a councilor whom he was made to believe had connections with a group allegedly headed by Duterte’s son Paolo, the controversial vice mayor of Davao City, and could therefore help in the release of the broker’s shipments.

In the course of narrating a brief meet-and-greet in Davao last January followed by the alleged payoff to Councilor Nilo “Small” Abellera Jr., Taguba mentioned the name of Duterte’s son-in-law Manases Carpio, husband of Davao City Mayor Sara and nephew of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales. Taguba testified that he never met or talked with Duterte’s relatives.

This testimony was accurately reported by mass media, so it was not fake news, as belatedly claimed by Taguba through his lawyer, who happens to also be the lawyer of the Ampatuans in the Maguindanao massacre. There’s a reason the Singaporeans don’t allow arrested suspects to have lawyers in the initial phase of investigation.

Paolo Duterte and Mans Carpio were mentioned, so it’s accurate to report that they were dragged into the mess. If Taguba lied to the Senate, then he is guilty of fake testimony or perjury, which carries appropriate penalties.

Taguba knew he was in deep manure, especially when senators indicated to him that his father appeared to have accumulated an inordinately large amount of assets as a member of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) police. With the implied threat of seeing poor dad also dragged before the Senate, Taguba clearly understood that he could not hurl specific accusations especially against relatives of the President.

But Taguba did not directly accuse the son and sonin-law of smuggling and he had no personal knowledge of their alleged involvement, so he was in no position to clear them. Only the members of the purported Davao Group can do this.

The Malacañang spokesman has said there is no more need for Duterte’s son and in-law to face the Senate after the statement issued by Taguba’s lawyer. Malacañang need not worry; the decision lies with the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, whose head seemed furious that the names of Paolo Duterte and Manases Carpio even cropped up at the hearing.

Mayor Sara Duterte had the best reaction to that Senate session: her husband and brother, she said, were just waiting to be summoned by the chamber. Facing the Senate is a good way to clear themselves of that link to smuggling and influence peddling in the BOC. President Duterte should give his relatives the same advice, if he wants his touted war against corruption to be credible.

But Blue Ribbon chairman Richard Gordon seemed uninterested from the outset anyway in finding out if the two presidential relatives are involved in anomalies in the BOC.

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People who watched or listened on radio to last week’s testimony of Taguba wondered when the three senators would start hitting each other with their chairs, like Taiwanese members of parliament did recently.

The winner in that verbal tussle, whether you agree with him or not, was Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. He succeeded in putting the President’s relatives under a cloud of suspicion, and to paint his colleagues Gordon and Tito Sotto as lawyers for the Duterte “sacred cows” and members of a “comite de absuelto.”

Outside the Blue Ribbon hearings, Gordon is a friendly, likable guy with a healthy sense of humor. He clearly knows more about the law and parliamentary procedures than Trillanes, who likes shooting from the hip. But Gordon came off browbeating a witness, with Sotto the accused plagiarist helping him along. Some folks watching the proceedings or listening on radio commented that Gordon’s rapid-fire comments, which often cut off Taguba and Trillanes, could be summed up thus: “Shut up, shut up, shutupshutupshutup…”

Also, Gordon probably needs a hearing aid; he seems unaware of the decibel of his voice. He was practically screaming at Taguba and Trillanes. Would Gordon grill Paolo Duterte and Mans Carpio in the same way?

Gordon should heed Joseph Estrada’s advice: Ang napipikon, talo.

The link to the presidential relatives was hearsay. But Trillanes had a valid point in asking why Blue Ribbon members readily invite anyone whose name is mentioned even in passing during the probe into the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of shabu, but fly into a rage when pressed to invite the President’s relatives, whose names have been mentioned several times during the hearings.

At certain points during his grilling, Taguba sounded exasperated. Why was he diverting the issue from the drug smuggling to the President’s relatives? Because he was asked by senators, Taguba replied.

The comite de absuelto managed to stop Trillanes from taking the probe where everyone thought it was headed: to shed light on rumors that an influential group facilitated the release of the P6.4-billion shabu and is now in possession of a sizable portion of the contraband that remains missing.

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To be fair, Gordon also browbeat Councilor Abellera. Gordon asked why Abellera dropped everything and went out of his way to meet briefly with someone he had never met. Abellera corroborated Taguba’s detailed narration of their meeting in Davao, but denied accepting the P5 million in “enrollment fee” for protection by the so-called Davao Group. This was not surprising; admission could land Abellera behind bars for several years. Even shutting up and invoking his right against self-incrimination would be seen in our country as an admission of guilt.

The nation deserves the truth, but we’ll probably never find out the whole truth about this scandal. All in all, Taguba and Abellera raised sufficient cause to dig deeper into the operations of a so-called Davao Group. Will the Blue Ribbon dare touch the President’s relatives?

Facing the Senate might actually be the best way for the Davao vice mayor and his brother-in-law to clear their name. At the very least, the vice mayor might persuade a suspicious nation that if there truly is a Davao Group, its members are using his name without his knowledge.

Trillanes succeeded in planting those suspicions about the President’s relatives. Being “cleared” by a confessed bribe giver and his lawyer and the raging indignation of Blue Ribbon members will not dispel those suspicions and doubts about the sincerity of President Duterte’s promise that his government will be clean.

Having sacred cows guarantees the failure of any campaign against corruption.