Surprise House witness tags Paolo Duterte, 2 others in illegal drug smuggling

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 6:18 p.m.) — Jimmy Guban, a former Customs officer who served as a key witness in a shabu smuggling controversy under former President Rodrigo Duterte, has resurfaced to confess that it was Rep. Paolo Duterte (First District, Davao City), Manases Carpio and Michael Yang who owned the magnetic lifters that were found to have concealed P11-billion worth of illegal drugs in 2018.

Guban told the House quad-committee on Friday during its first inquiry that he lied about the persons responsible for the illegal shipment of shabu during his testimony to the Senate in 2018 because of threats to his and his family's life.

The embattled former Customers intelligence officer took back his testimony six years ago to implicate three people with ties to the former president: president's eldest son, Vice President Sara Duterte's husband, and the president's former economic adviser.

Alongside his bombshell admission, Guban also recanted his statement accusing former police official Eduardo Acierto of owning the P11-billion shabu shipment during his trial for charges related to importing dangerous drugs. For this case, he was sentenced to life imprisonment last year.

All this was bared before the House mega-panel, which was created to fuse together the investigations being conducted by four House committees: dangerous drugs, public order & safety, human rights and public acounts.

According to his affidavit submitted to the House panel on Friday, Guban recalled meeting a certain Davao First District Councilor Nilo Abillera Jr. called "Small" in 2017. This Davao councilor introduced himself to Guban as a "business partner and trusted associate of Michael Yang, Pulong Duterte... and Atty. Mans Carpio."

"Councilor Small Abellera requested me not to be so strict with their shipments. After that meeting, Councilor 'Small' always talked to me over the phone and sought my help in the release of their shipments to which l acceded," Guban said.

In mid-2018, Guban discovered a suspicious shipment by VECABA Trading, which turned out to be unaccredited with the Bureau of Customs.

Upon investigation, Guban said he found that the shipment was connected to Duterte,