‘Fake witness’ in P6.4-B shabu hearing slammed

FILE: Col. Neil Anthony Estrella, former head of BOC Intelligence and Investigation Service (BOC-CIIS) said in a press briefing. (Screenshot from Press Briefing 12/20/2016 by RTVMalacanang)

MANILA — A former official of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Thursday slammed the statement of the latest witness in the Senate inquiry into the P6.4 billion shabu shipment in May.

Former Customs Investigation and Intelligence Service chief Neil Anthony Estrella described May Escoto as another “fake witness” from the camp of Customs fixer Mark Taguba .

Estrella, who appeared in the preliminary investigation of the case before the Department of Justice, said the move of Taguba’s camp to present Escoto in the Senate inquiry, claiming to be his bagman of other BOC officials, is meant to weaken the drug cases against Taguba.

“She (Escoto) is a fake witness with close ties to the Taguba camp who they unleashed to destroy the credibility of the BOC-CIIS officials responsible for the drug raid,” Estrella told reporters in a chance interview, referring to the operation that led to the seizure of the illegal drugs in a warehouse in Valenzuela City.

He said Escoto is the common-law wife of Ricky Carvajal, a bodyguard of the Tagubas and a columnist in the ‘Customs News’ publication — which Taguba claimed is owned by his family.

“I know she (Escoto) is a BOC employee but she is not under my office. I have not talked to her since I’m busy most of the days and I have never given her any instruction,” Estrella said.

Escoto has told the Senate inquiry that she had received pay-offs from Taguba for Estrella and CIIS Acting Division Chief Joel Pinawin.

Escoto said she brought money placed inside two brown envelopes from Taguba in three separate occasions upon orders from Pinawin.

Pinawin denied Escoto’s allegations, saying they are all lies.

Estrella also denied Escoto’s claim saying that “she has never been” their bagman and that they never received any pay-offs from Taguba.

“She is a tool of the Taguba camp to peddle their fake news against us, so that the drug smuggling and conspiracy cases against Mark Taguba would be fatally weakened,” he said.

Estrella added that Escoto and Carvajal are just surrogates of the Tagubas who have been peddling fake news to get Mark off the hook.

He said Taguba’s claim that the BOC- CIIS officials were on his payroll was belied by the fact that the latter were the ones who determined his involvement as the broker of the contraband shipment and even brought him to the National Bureau of Investigation on May 29 for investigation.

He said it was the BOC-CIIS probers who dug up the original packing list of the drug shipment with the five metal cylinders containing the shabu and that Taguba’s company had “doctored” the packing list.

“Malinaw ito. Siraan niyo ang kredibilidad namin dahil tayo ang nag-aakusa dun sa drugs. Kapag sira ang kredibilidad mo, katulad ng nangyaring hearing dito, walang pupuntahan to. Walang makakasuhan. Kami lang. Kami ang nanghuli. Kami ang nag-prevent na itong drugs na ito ay lumabas dito sa ating lipunan. Kami ngayon ang makukulong kung saka sakali (This is clear. They are tainting our credibility because we are the ones making the accusations on drugs. Just like what happened in this hearing, nothing will come out. No one will be charged except for us. We are the ones who arrested the perpetrators. We prevented the drugs from being distributed. If ever, we are the ones who will go to jail.),” he added.

Estrella said they would file perjury, libel and other criminal cases against Taguba and Escoto because of their false testimonies.

Estrella, along with former BOC chief Nicanor Faeldon and 10 other Customs officials have been charged by PDEA with graft, conspiracy to import illegal drugs and coddling drug traffickers which are violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act and negligence and tolerance for allegedly facilitating the escape of the persons behind the drug shipment — a violation of Article 208 of the Revised Penal Code.

Other named respondents in the complaint are: former BOC Import Assessment Services (IAS) Director Milo Maestrecampo; intelligence officers Joel Pinawin and Oliver Valiente; Manila International Container Port district collector lawyer Vincent Phillip Maronilla; Faeldon’s fiancé, lawyer Jeline Maree Magsuci; and BOC employees Alexandra Ventura, Randolph Cabansag, Dennis Maniego, Dennis Cabildo and John Edillor.

Estrella said that he is seeking the dismissal of the said charges.

The investigating panel headed by Assistant State Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes set the next hearing on Oct. 19 for the respondents to answer the charges and submit their counter-affidavits.

In the same complaint, the PDEA filed illegal drug importation charges under R.A. 9165 against importers and facilitators of the shabu shipment – Chen Ju Long, Chen Rong Juan, Manny Li, Kenneth Dong, Mark Taguba II, Teejay Marcellana, Eirene May Tatad, Emily Dee, Chen I-Min and Jhu Ming Jyun.

It also included in the charge sheet the directors and officers of Hong Fei Logistics Inc., the warehouse where the shabu shipment was seized – Genelita Arayan, Dennis Nocom, Zhang Hong, Rene Palle, Richard Rebistual and Mary Rose Dela Cruz.

The PDEA complaint has been consolidated with the drug smuggling complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against the importers and brokers of the shipment, which is already undergoing preliminary investigation before the DOJ.