Businessman Kenneth Dong and Customs broker Mark Ruben Taguba have asked the Department of Justice to dismiss the criminal complaint filed against them by the Bureau of Customs arising from the P6.4-billion shabu shipment seized last May.
Dong and Taguba, also facing drug charges in a separate complaint filed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency involving the same shipment, again showed up before the DoJ last Monday and submitted their respective counter-affidavits to investigating fiscal, Assistant State Prosecutor Charlie Guhit.
The two respondents denied BoC’s charges that they violated Republic Act 10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, in relation to Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
Dong argued there was no “direct material evidence” to indict him for the importation of the 602.2-kilogram shabu shipment.
“My complicity to the crime, if this be the case, cannot be anchored on my business relationship or association, if any, with my co-respondents,” Dong said, in his counter-affidavit.
The businessman, who was released recently after being arrested over a rape case, admitted that he referred his co-respondent, businessman Manny Li, to Taguba to facilitate the processing of the shipment of Li’s client, Hongfei Logistics.
According to him, he only translated to English the cargo’s packing list forwarded to him by Li, which was written in Chinese.
“I have not, in one instance or another, dealt with or personally transacted with any of the BoC employees responsible for the inspection/verification of imported goods,” he said.
“Therefore, it cannot be gainsaid that I am a conspirator having joint criminal design with any of the other respondents identified by the BoC who are supposedly responsible for the importation, release and delivery of the subject container purportedly where the shabu was found,” he stressed.
For his part, Taguba also denied the charges, saying he was “merely the provider of trucking services and facilitator and financier” to process the release of the container from the bureau.
“Moreover, importation has been terminated before Mr. Teejay Marcellana or I had any participation in the documentation of shipment, as can be gleaned from Customs Entry No. C129547, which is dated May 17, 2017. It must be borne in mind that according to the BOC, the container arrived on May 16, 2017,” Taguba’s counter-affidavit stated.
Taguba, who served as witness in the earlier Senate inquiry on the controversy, argued that only the importer and the consignee should be held liable for illegal importation.
“I have no knowledge of the actual contents of the container, nor would I have a way to verify the same. To indict me with charges of Section 4 of Republic Act 9165 (importation of dangerous drugs) is at the height of injustice, and could very well set a bad precedent in the logistics industry,” he pointed out.
Taguba also questioned why the BoC relied on the testimony of Neil Estrella, former director of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service.
“It is worthy to note that nowhere in his affidavit did he mention the container number on which the cylinders were allegedly placed, much less the truck on which they were loaded. The only thing certain is that the drugs were found in a warehouse owned by Chen Ju Long/Richard Tan,” he stressed.
Apart from Taguba and Dong, the other respondents are Chen, Eirene May Tatad, owner of EMT Trading, consignee of the drug shipment, Taiwanese nationals Chen Min and Jhu Ming Jyun, warehouseman Fidel Anoche Dee, Marcellana, Li and unidentified individuals whom the BOC believed to have been involved in the shabu shipment.
A separate panel of the DoJ has concluded the preliminary investigation on the similar charges filed by the PDEA against Dong, Taguba and BoC officials, including former commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.