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'A GOOD SCRIPTWRITER'

Aguirre to Trillanes: Give showbiz a try


Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Friday he had a "good laugh" after learning about opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV's claim that the Cabinet official is "setting the stage to absolve” businessman Kenneth Dong in the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of illegal drugs from China.

"Senator Trillanes should try his hand in show business. He is proving to be a good scriptwriter," Aguirre said.

He said Trillanes' pronouncement on his view that Dong can turn state witness in the criminal complaint pending before the Department of Justice (DOJ) in relation to the shabu shipment was "too premature that it is laughable."

“Amusing. I had a good laugh when I read it.  We could all use the comic relief he provided," Aguirre said.

"Senator Trillanes is already writing the ending of a story that has yet to start. While it is true that I said that there is a possibility for Mr. Dong to be a state witness, I also said that it will all depend on the determination of Mr. Dong not appearing to be the most guilty. Such a fact has yet to be established."

Dong is one of the nine individuals charged by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Monday with the importation of dangerous drugs in connection with the 602.2 kilograms of shabu that were seized by the NBI and the Bureau of Customs operatives from a warehouse in Valenzuela City on May 26.

A separate complaint for violation of Section 28 of Republic Act 9280 or the Customs Brokers Act of 2004 was also filed against Dong, businessman Manny Li (Li Guang Feng) and Mark Ruben Taguba II for the unauthorized practice of customs broking.

Dong allegedly acted as a middleman for Chen Ju Long alias Richard Chen or Richard Tan, the Chinese businessman who owns the Hongfei Logistics warehouse where the contraband was found.

“Since Senator Trillanes is into story writing nowadays, perhaps he should also tell all concerned and responsible media practitioners where he is hiding the self-confessed media killer Arturo Lascañas, the man who admitted killing media man and radio anchor Jun Pala. Now that is a story worth telling," Aguirre said.

Lascañas, a retired policeman and a self-confessed hitman from Davao City, is facing arrest for the killing of Pala, a critic of then Davao City Mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte, in 2003.

Lascañas left the country for Singapore on April 8 out of fear for his security, after tagging Duterte in the killings allegedly perpetrated by the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS).

Last June, Aguirre ordered the NBI to coordinate with the International Police Organization (Interpol) to locate Lascañas and find out the persons who may have helped him to leave the country. —KG, GMA News

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