Hypocrisy in drug war

THE HOUSE of Representatives quadruple committees investigating the Duterte war on drugs will reportedly reconvene today.

Congress will probe further into the drug smuggling activities that were allowed during the previous administration, and hopefully uncover the sheer hypocrisy beneath its law-and-order platform that resulted in tens of thousands of mindless deaths that continue to elude resolution and justice.

Duterte’s iron fist was the veneer of terror that muted any significant protest, and silenced most Senators and other politicians who had to default on survival mode until democracy could correct that gross imbalance of power.

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Expected to testify again is Bureau of Customs facilitator Mark Taguba who has been convicted for drug smuggling by the Regional Trial Court of Manila Branch 46.

The Manila court rendered its decision in November last year. It found Taguba and a couple others guilty beyond reasonable doubt for violation of Sec. 4 of Republic Act No. 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

Six hundred kilograms of shabu worth P6 billion were reportedly shipped from China and entered the Bureau of Customs in May 2017. The BOC could not choose not to act as it was the Chinese government itself that pushed for the apprehension of the massive drug importation.

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Taguba testified before the House quad com last year that he was among the favored Customs facilitators in the early days of the Duterte administration on account of his having enlisted with the “Davao Group” through an “enrollment fee” costing P5 million.

He said that one Jojo Bacud introduced him to Davao city councilor Nilo “Small” Abellera Jr., who quoted the enrollment fee ostensibly in behalf of presidential son congressman Paolo “Polong” Duterte.

While admitting that he had never met the younger Duterte, Taguba said that he knew Abellera to be a close friend to the young congressman.

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Taguba also said that he experienced difficulty in the shipments he facilitated at the BOC prior to the payment of the enrollment fee to the Davao group.

He narrated that he was being harassed by BOC officials until Bacud introduced him to Abellera of the Davao group who told him that he would not be able to have his shipments released without being part of the group.

It was a worthwhile investment because it solved the red tape that was there before his “enrollment.”

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Taguba said his shipments were labeled “general merchandise,” normally a sign that the goods may be smuggled. Yet upon payment of an “all-in fee” of P170,000 per container they all went through the green lane, which meant that they were hardly inspected at all.

He claimed that the guiding hand of the Davao group was real. Cursory inspections were for sale. Taguba’s only misfortune was that particular shipment that caught the eye of no less than the Chinese government.

How many other such shipments containing illegal drugs could have passed through the green lane when the government allowed contraband with its left hand and engaged in a violent drug war with its right hand?/PN