Gordon: Paolo Duterte, Mans Carpio invited to shabu shipment hearing

Senator Richard Gordon on Monday said the Senate blue ribbon committee has invited Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and lawyer Manases Carpio to attend the next hearing on the P6.4-billion shabu shipment recovered by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) last May.

"Pinatatawag na namin 'yung dalawa sapagkat kahit anong gawin ninyo, kahit anong gawin ko, sinasabi natin na hearsay, sinasabi nating sila ay anak ng Pangulo, sila ay kamag-anak ng Pangulo, dapat patawag. And that is why I agreed na ipatawag po sila in the first place," Gordon said in an interview on Unang Balita.

The next hearing may be conducted this coming Thursday.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said Gordon may have decided to invite Duterte and Carpio because of public pressure.

“Nakaramdam lang si Senator Gordon ng public pressure, bibigay din pala. Anyway, regardless whether they would cooperate or not, I will be prepared to confront them on Thursday,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes had asked the blue ribbon committee to invite Duterte and Carpio to the next hearing, but Gordon rejected the request saying allegations against the two are hearsay.

On Saturday, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said there was no more reason to invite Duterte and Carpio to the hearing because Customs fixer Mark Taguba himself had absolved them of involvement in corruption activities at the BOC.

Taguba, in a statement released by his lawyer Raymond Fortun, said Duterte and Carpio are no involved in the drug shipment and any illegal activities at the BOC.

“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,” Taguba said.

Invoke right to remain silence

In an interview in Davao City on Saturday night, President Rodrigo Duterte said that he had told his eldest son to attend the Senate hearing.

However, he said his advice to the young Duterte was to keep silent during Trillanes' grilling.

“Punta ka doon, then pagdating mo and he questions, sabihin mo lang na, 'I will not answer you, I'm invoking my right of silence kasi nung eleksyon pa, hindi pa Presidente ang tatay ko, binibira mo na kami,'" the President said.

He reiterated that he and other members of his family are not involved in corruption.

Meanwhile, Gordon said in the Unang Balita interview that he believes Taguba was pressured into dragging the younger Duterte's name in the shabu shipment controversy.

"Si Taguba, parang pagka napilit, natatakot eh bumabawi at binabawi yung salita. Palagay ko may lumapit diyan na mga tao rin para tangkain, katulad nung si Matobato, tatawagin ni Lascañas, may mga lumalapit diyan na baguhin yung salita," Gordon said.

The senator was referring to confessed members of the alleged Davao Death Squad, Edgar Matobato and Arturo Lascañas, who accused the President of involvement in killings in Davao City when he was its mayor.

Gordon said that some of Taguba's testimonies could be true, but it was obvious that he was sometimes making up stories and seemed to be protecting his "business" at the BOC.

Taguba had confessed into giving Customs officials millions in bribe money to allow some shipments to pass the BOC without inspection. —Rie Takumi and Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/ALG/KG, GMA News