VICE President Sara Duterte urged the public over the weekend not to lose sight of the problems of the country amid the “political noise” surrounding allegations that her husband, Manases Carpio, was involved in drug smuggling in 2018.
Carpio, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte and former president Rodrigo Duterte’s economic adviser Michael Yang were tagged in the smuggling of shabu (crystal meth) amounting to P11 billion by former Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban during a hearing of the House “Quad Committee” on Friday.
The Quad Committee comprises the House Committees of Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Human Rights, and Public Accounts.
‘HARASSMENT’ Vice President Sara Duterte brands as a ‘political harassment’ the disclosure by a former Customs intelligence official linking her brother, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte; her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio; and Michael Yang, an economic adviser of her father and former president Rodrigo Duterte to a shabu shipment in 2018. Duterte issued the statement on Aug. 17, 2024 in response to queries from the media at the Davao City Library, where she was managing a book donation for the Kadayawan Festival. PHOTO COURTESY OF PNA
In an ambush interview on Saturday at the sidelines of the Kadayawan Festival, Duterte said that she could not speak for her brother Paolo and even her husband, second gentleman Carpio, over the accusations hurled against them.
“I have told my husband that any issues that he is involved in, he will be the one answering, while any issues that I am involved in, I will answer so that there will be a clear line on our statements,” Duterte said in Filipino.
However, Duterte believes that the appearance of Guban could be a form of “political harassment” and an attack against her, as it was timed after she left the Marcos Cabinet as education secretary and became more vocal on what the government should do to reduce poverty.
She implored the public to focus on poverty and increasing food prices and not be drawn to the “political noise.”
“The real problem right now is poverty and the problems of people getting expensive food, which is the basic need of our country. I hope they should not be dragged into the political noise, but we should focus on the real problems of the country,” Duterte said.
Meanwhile, The Natioal Press Club refuted the claim of Guban that Yang was connected to the media organization.
“Mr. Yang is not, and was never, a member of the National Press Club nor affiliated in any way with the organization,” NPC president Leonel Abasola said in a statement on Saturday.
At the same time, the NPC accepted the offer of Environment Undersecretary and National Irrigation Authority Administrator Benny Antiporda to take a leave of absence as the organization’s vice president to address the allegations raised against him by Guban.
Guban, during the joint public hearing of the House Quad Committee, said Antiporda was the one who facilitated the release of the shipment containing the shabu from the Manila International Container Port (MICP).
“The NPC, as one of the oldest media organizations in the country, joins the quest for truth and calls for a resolution based on facts and without bias,” it added.
Meanwhile, Quad Committee overall chairman and House Dangerous Drugs panel head Rep. Robert Ace Barbers stressed that while they were “surprised” at the allegations Guban made during the hearing, they would still weigh the credibility of his testimony.
The panel was specifically formed to investigate the link between Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs), the sale of land by Chinese, the discovery of drugs in warehouses in Pampanga and the extrajudicial killings that happened during the previous administration.
Barbers stopped short of saying that Guban’s testimony was credible as he wanted the committee to decide.
“I have my own opinion [on his credibility], but I have to decide on the basis of the collective wisdom of the committee as they will be the ones who will write the committee report,” Barbers said.
He also said they remained open to entertaining other possible “surprise witnesses” of Guban’s caliber but stressed that they would vet the information the committee might receive.
“Many have already indicated that they want to reveal or share information with the committee, but like I said, while we welcome that, we will weigh them [to see if they] could help the objective of the committee,” Barbers said.
Barbers also said they would not create any “politically-motivated” committee report as they just wanted to stick to the truth.
The committee has already invited Representative Duterte, Carpio, Antiporda and Gutierrez to the next hearing.
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