Lawyer Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang, the whistleblower in the alleged 1.6 tons of smuggled shabu in the Bureau of Customs last year, on Tuesday clarified she did not say that the country’s worst administration was the Duterte administration.
Mangaoang made the clarification after a certain Nepthalie R. Gonzales posted on social media quoting her as saying such statement.
“My attention was called by friends that a certain Nepthalie R. Gonzales quoted me as saying that the worst administration is the Duterte administration. First of all, I did not make that statement in any occasion. Secondly, I do not know Nepthalie R. Gonzales and I do not recall having met her or talked to her. So quoting me has no basis at all,” she said.
Mangaoang, who served as Customs deputy collector for operations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Port of Manila, said in August until November 2018, there were hearings conducted by both Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and House of Representatives-Dangerous Drugs Committee on the shabu smuggling through BOC.
“I testified that the magnetic lifters contained the shabu and that the x-ray images clearly show that something was concealed in the magnetic lifters,” said Mangaoang, who was also the chief of the X-ray Scanning Project during the time of Commissioner Napoleon Morales.
Mangaoang said both hearings concluded that the magnetic lifters were used by the syndicate to smuggle the P11 billion worth of shabu as it was shown by physical, documentary and testimonial evidences.
She said then Commisisoner Isidro “Lapeña admitted this fact.”
Subsequently, the bureau’s XIP personnel were criminally charged and Lapeña was charged criminally by the National Bureau of Investigation and PHilippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Mangaoang said in October 2018, she was interviewed in a radio/TV program and was asked which Customs administration was the best.
“I replied that it was during former Commissioner [Guillermo] Parayno’s time because that was the time that the BOC’s processes were computerized and the Philippine Customs was ahead of most other countries,” she said.
“Then I was asked which Customs administration was the worst. I quickly replied that it is during the administration of Commissioner Lapeña because the biggest drug shipment slipped thru BOC during his time and other contrabands were being smuggled in many ports.”
Mangaoang said Gonzales misquoted her. She added that the latter’s Facebook post “is not only out of context but also they are not my words. This is nothing but fake news which is a violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Law and punishable with a maximum of 20 years imprisonment.”
“I never said in any of my interviews that the Duterte administration is the worst because it is not.”
Mangaoang asked various groups who are against the Duterte administration to stop using her and the alleged statement she never made, “for the purpose of discrediting the Duterte administration or driving a wedge between me and the Duterte supporters.”
“I ask those who posted the fake statement in FB to take it down or I will be compelled to file charges against them for violation of the Cybercrime Law. I fought for justice and the truth and and I will continue to do so for our beloved Philippines and the present and future generations of Filipinos.”