‘Shabu importer’ admits bribing Customs execs

P27,000 paid per container; P17 M in just 3 months

MANILA, Philippines - A witness in the House of Representatives’ inquiry into drug smuggling has admitted giving unnamed Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials up to P17 million in bribes in just three months.

In the course of a 10-hour marathon hearing by the committee on ways and means that started at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday and lasted up to 11:30 p.m., two congressmen also expressed fears that at least 2,000 kilos of shabu “may be potentially missing.”

Broker-importer Mark Taguba made the admission about the bribes upon questioning by deputy speaker and Marikina Rep. Romero Quimbo.

Taguba said his clients pay him P170,000 for every container of goods he handles.

Of that amount, he said P40,000 goes to BOC as “all-in tariff” that is issued a receipt.

“Do you give an additional amount to the BOC on the side and how much?” asked Quimbo.

Taguba at first hesitated, but Quimbo told him that he has to save himself by telling the truth since so far, based on records, the broker had a big role in the shipment and release on May 23 of 605 kilos of shabu worth P6.4 billion.

Quimbo recommended that Taguba be given legislative immunity from prosecution so he would be free to talk.

Taguba then admitted giving BOC officials P27,000 for every container released.

He said he handled at least “500 shipments” or containers from March to May this year.

He said he did not know that the May 23 shipment contained a huge amount of shabu that BOC processed through its green or express lane and which Customs agents seized two days later in a Valenzuela City warehouse upon a tip from Chinese Customs authorities.

Asked again by Quimbo if there were Customs officers in the hearing room who received bribes from him, Taguba gave an affirmative answer.

He also said his shipments were processed by the Manila International Container Port.

At P27,000 per container and based on 500 containers, bribes Taguba has given BOC officers could reach P13.5 million.

However, according to the testimonies of Customs officials, Taguba handled at least 630 shipments during the three-month period. Computed on 630, the bribes totaled P17 million.

Bribes at P270M daily

In a statement issued later, Quimbo said that if the P27,000 bribe is for 10,000 shipments processed daily by Customs, money changing hands “is equivalent to P270 million per day.”

Before President Duterte appointed former Marine officer Nicanor Faeldon as Customs commissioner, it had long been rumored in Customs that importers and brokers routinely pay a certain amount to get their cargoes promptly released. Apparently, this practice has not stopped.

Taguba, 26, said he learned the ropes in Customs from his father, who was a Customs broker.

The young Tabuga, “consignee for hire” Eirene Tatad and Teejay Marcellana, also a broker, jointly handled the more than 600 containers in March-May.

They admitted that they are relatively new players at the port area.

Tatad said her brother-in-law referred her to Taguba, who paid her EMT Trading P1,500 per container.

Marcellana, on the other hand, received P500 per container from Taguba.

The 40-foot van containing P6.4 billion worth of drugs found in five crates had a total of 23 packages, based on a BOC document.

It was Rep. Jericho Nograles of party-list Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta who noticed the discrepancy between the numbers 23 and five.

“What happened to the 18 packages or boxes? Did you inspect them?” he asked Customs intelligence chief Neil Estrella, who led the team that raided the Valenzuela warehouse.

Estrella said they did not mind the 18 and were focused on the five crates that contained the huge shabu shipment.

He said they assumed that the 18 contained “kitchenware” and other household items as declared by the importer-broker.

“Or what was hidden there might also have been shabu that is now circulating in the market,” Nograles countered.

On questioning by Quirino Rep. Dakila Cua, ways and means committee chairman, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents who were part of the raiding team said they too did not notice the 18 other packages.

Cua suggested that the agents of the NBI and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency take the testimonies of personnel of the warehouse where the drugs were seized, the owner of the warehouse identified as a certain Richard Chen alias Richard Tan, and Kenneth Dong, Taguba’s client who brought in most of the 600 shipments Taguba, Tatad and Marcellana handled.

Since five crates contained 605 kilos, Cua said more than 2,000 kilos of shabu worth at least P22 billion might have been hidden in the 18 other packages.

“That is shabu that may be potentially missing and at large,” he said.

Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento said he accessed Dong’s Facebook page yesterday morning and found out that the latter “operated a high-end bar in Cebu City.”

“However, when I checked again this afternoon, the Facebook account has been mysteriously deactivated,” he said.