Taguba clarifies BOC official at hearing is not one who took bribe money

A Customs official became emotional on Wednesday after broker Mark Taguba clarified that she was not the one he had referred to as having received bribes from him.

Nanie Koh was among those who had been invited to the House Committee on Ways and Means' inquiry into the P6.4-billion worth of shabu shipment illegally transported into the country.

Taguba had mentioned in the previous hearing that a certain "Tita Nanie" was one of those who benefited from the P27,000 "grease money" BOC personnel received per container.

On Wednesday, Koh denied that she was the "Tita Nanie" Taguba had referred to.

The lawmakers, however, had no way to verify Koh's statement as Taguba had not yet arrived at the House of Representatives from the Senate's hearing earlier in the day.

When Taguba had arrived, Surigao Del Norte Representative Robert Ace Barbers, who chairs the Dangerous Drugs Committee, asked him to identify if "Tita Nanie" and Koh were the same person.

"Hindi po siya," Taguba replied.

Koh turned emotional upon Taguba's clarification.

"'Yung 42 years po ng pinaghirapan, napunta lang po saan? Biyuda na ako e, iisang anak, tapos nasira pa ang pangalan ko," she said.

Nanie Koh, nalinis ang pangalan. Hindi siya ang tinutukoy ni Mark Taguba na Tita Nanie na kumukolekta ng tara @dzbb pic.twitter.com/6a2yUrNwuj

— Rowena L. Salvacion (@wengsalvacion) August 9, 2017

"Sana po hindi na maulit ito dahil hindi lang ako ang may tama, ang pamilya ko rin. Mga kapatid ko mga doktor. May kanya-kanya rin silang pangalan, tapos masasabi 'Kapatid niyo pala magnanakaw?'" she added.

Barbers assured Koh that her name has been cleared.

"Na-clear po kayo dahil hindi naman daw po kayo si Tita Nanie. At least nabigyan po kayo ng pagkakataon," Barbers said. — BM, GMA News