Mark Taguba retracts accusations against Paolo Duterte, Atty. Manases Carpio

  MANILA – A "fixer" at the Philippine Customs office who is the central personality in congressional inquiries into the smuggling of 6.4 billion pesos (US$125 million) worth of crystal meth into the Philippines from China a few months ago has cleared President Rodrigo Duterte's eldest son and son-in-law in smuggling operations. "I am making this statement to clear (Davao City) Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and Attorney Manse Carpio from any involvement in the shipment of illegal drugs into the country, and any anomalies in the Bureau of Customs," said Mark Taguba in a press statement read by his lawyer Raymond Fortun on Friday. Taguba's press statement said further: "I had never testified, nor will I ever testify that Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and/or Attorney Manse Carpio were involved in the shipment of illegal drugs into the country." "Neither have I testified, nor will I ever testify that the aforementioned individuals were involved in the 'tara system' (systemic corruption) that was in place at the Bureau of Customs." "I also hereby apologize to Vice Mayor Duterte, Atty. Carpio and to the first family for the proliferation of fake news arising out of my testimony at the Senate yesterday (Thursday)." Taguba's clarification on Friday came a day after he testified before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee wherein he implicated Vice Mayor Duterte and Attorney Carpio to smuggling operations. When he was asked then if Vice Mayor Duterte and Carpio were involved in smuggling operations at the Customs office, Taguba said yes. The 23-year-old Taguba said in his press statement that Vice Mayor Duterte and Attorney Carpio "were merely mentioned by the so-called "Davao Group" in a string of text messages between him and two other alleged fixers he identified as "Tita Nannie" and "Jack." Taguba showed the text messages during the inquiry by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee into the smuggling into the country of 605 kilograms of crystal meth from Xiamen, China in May and contained in give huge cylinders. Meanwhile, Taguba denied knowing that crystal meth were in the shipment that he helped facilitate through the Customs office, for which he is being investigated. "To this day, I contest that the container that my company caused to be released on May 24, 2016 contained the 605 kilograms of shabu," he said. He said the container van only had household items. GAC/Expat 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