Taguba transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has transferred Customs fixer Mark Ruben Taguba II to Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City, after the Philippine National Police refused to take custody of him.

NBI spokesperson Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin told reporters on Friday afternoon that Taguba was taken to Camp Bagong Diwa at around 5 p.m. Thursday on the strength a commitment order issued by a Manila court.

Lavin said the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 released the new order after the PNP refused Taguba's court-ordered transfer to its Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

NBI agents went back to the court, Lavin said, to inform it of the circumstances.

“The court issued another commitment order, this time ordering the NBI to turn over the person of Mark Ruben Taguba to the jail warden of the BJMP in Camp Bagong Diwa,” he said.

Taguba and eight others are facing a drug importation case before the Manila court for their alleged involvement in the shipment of P6.4 billion worth of shabu from China. He was detained at an NBI facility before he was ordered transferred to the Manila City Jail.

However, his lawyer, Raymond Fortun, asked the court to allow his client to remain at the NBI's custody, citing an alleged kill plot that awaits Taguba at the city jail.

The court, in resolving this motion, ordered that the Customs broker be transferred to the PNP Custodial Center.

However, the PNP refused his transfer on account of a circular from the Supreme Court that directs RTCs and Metropolitan Trial Courts to refrain from issuing orders in committing detainees in the PNP Custodial Center.

Taguba is set to be arraigned on April 6.  —KBK, GMA News