FILIPINO-CHINESE businessman Kenneth Dong has been placed under custody of the National Bureau of Investigation following his arrest for rape after a Senate hearing Tuesday.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the arrest warrant against the trader, a suspected middleman in the recent smuggling of P6.4-billion shabu, was issued June 30 by the Parañaque City regional trial court Branch 195.
“If there are further proceedings, then the Senate has to address subpoena to the NBI,” Aguirre said.
Dong’s lawyer Karla Frias said the arrested 33-year-old businessman was innocent of the rape charge.
“My client is innocent. He is not hiding,” she said.
NBI deputy director for intelligence Vicente de Guzman said the case against Dong cropped up while they were doing a background check on the businessman, who has been testifying in congressional inquiries into drug smuggling.
“This is a distinct and separate case; it involves a personal offense and has nothing to do with Senate investigation,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre revealed that Dong could become a state witness in the drug charges involving the shabu shipment.
“That’s possible [for him to be witness] as long as he would not appear to be the most guilty. Anyone can apply to be covered by WPP [witness protection program] subject to assessment of eligibility,” he added.
Dong was arrested right after the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the shabu shipment was suspended after 2 p.m.
The rape case against Dong was reportedly filed by a 33-year-old woman.
The complainant alleged that the rape happened in Parañaque on April 10, 2016. She said she was intoxicated and possibly drugged when she was raped.
Dong denied the allegations.
Senator Richard Gordon, during the probe, hinted about Dong’s “personal problem” but neither of them elaborated on the matter.
At the Blue Ribbon hearing, Dong denied he had close ties with President Rodrigo Duterte’s son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte.
Dong said the younger Duterte was an acquaintance whom he met in 2008, when he expanded his weighing scales business in Davao.
“We were not that close. We are just acquaintances,” said Dong, the alleged middleman of Chen Ju Long alias Richard Tan, a Chinese citizen from Xiamen.
Chen is the owner of Hong Fei Logistics, owner of the Valenzuela warehouse where the shabu shipment was found.
The Bureau of Customs discovered the illegal drugs in Chen’s warehouse following a tip from the General Administration of China Customs. The contraband was concealed in five metal cylinders.
During the hearing, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV showed the Senate panel photos of Dong with the Davao City vice mayor and and Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, both sons of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Earlier, the President said he is ready to resign if any of his children are guilty of corruption after the name of his eldest son was dragged into the smuggling controversy at the Bureau of Customs.
Reacting to the photos shown by Trillanes, Dong said he was just fond of taking pictures in public. “That’s the problem with me, the reason why I was linked to controversy,” he said.
During a recent hearing in the House, customs broker Mark Taguba mentioned the name of the Davao vice mayor. He said Paolo was part of a group of individuals involved in the transactions of the Bureau of Customs in Davao City called the “Davao Group.” He knew the other members of the group only by the names “Tita Nanie,” “Jack,” and “Small.”
When Trillanes confronted Taguba about Paolo’s involvement, he said that was just hearsay.
Taguba admitted he has no personal knowledge about the vice mayor’s alleged involvement. “Sabi-sabi lang, [It’s just talk]” he told Gordon’s committee.
Customs Deputy Commissioner Gerardo Gambala also testified he does not have personal knowledge on the alleged links of Paolo to the Davao Group.
“I could hear noises, I could hear people’s names. I could just hear Davao Group but the people behind it, I don’t know that,” he said.
Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella branded as mere black propaganda photos posted on social media showing Paolo with Dong.
“What’s important [is] documentary evidence, not hearsay. Otherwise all of these things are just speculation, propaganda that can be used and misused,” said Abella
But Trillanes said the government also put Senator Leila de Lima in jail over photos showing her with alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and his wife in Baguio City sometime during the 2016 election campaign.
Senator Manny Pacquiao, a close ally of Duterte, warned Taguba that he cannot just mention Paolo’s name without evidence to substantiate his allegation.
“If you are not sure, don’t mention it. If you have no personal knowledge, don’t say it,” said Pacquiao.
Dong is also being investigated by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas as a “person of interest,” supposedly for involvement in the trafficking of illegal drugs..
Reacting to the photos, the presidential son posted on Facebook photos showing Dong in the company of Liberal Party members, including LP president Senator Francis Pangilinan and Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV.
The image comes with the words, “You’re great, you accuse others! But you yourself are guilty of it!”
The third Senate hearing was a venue for a face-off between Trillanes and Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, both of whom had mounted botched coups against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Seeing a chance to get back at Faeldon who earlier divulged that the senator received huge sums of money from Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos while he was detained and running for senator, Trillanes asked the Customs chief if there was corruption in his bureau.
Faeldon repeatedly refused to answer Trillanes’ question. Instead, Faeldon assailed Trillanes for earlier making “preposterous” accusations that he was involved in the controversy.
Trillanes lashed back at Faeldon and insisted his question was not an accusation, unlike Faeldon’s claims against him during the 2016 campaign.
“You gave baseless accusations during the 2016 campaign. Now I am asking you as a member of this committee, as a senator, these are not accusations. I am asking you if there is corruption in Customs,” Trillanes said, threatening to cite Faeldon on contempt.
However, Faeldon opted not to answer, and instead threw sharp looks at the senator.
Gordon interrupted and asked Faeldon to answer Trillanes’ question.
Faeldon responded, “In the past few days your honor, they have been peddling stories all over the news, incredible baseless accusations against me and other people. It’s pointless for me to answer this, your honor, because he’s come to his conclusion.”
At this juncture, Gordon reminded the two former Oakwood mutineers not to bring their previous conflict before the committee. He also told Faeldon that this is the opportunity for him to answer the allegations.
“It may appear that you’re arrogant, recalcitrant. You answer the question,” he said.
Faeldon still refused to budge, prompting Gordon to suspend the session. He approached Faeldon during the break and convinced him to respond properly.
The Cusroms chief seemed to be wiping his tears while talking to Gordon.
When session resumed, Faeldon said he would not allow anyone to spread lies against him.
When Trillanes threw the same question to Faeldon, if there was corruption in rhe BOC, Faeldon blurted out, “You are not listening.”
Faeldon later admitted that corruption still existed at the bureau.
“I have no evidence to prove that employees are involved in corruption. I don’t have a team to investigate any corruption because when I came into the bureau, all [the people around] me are BOC people,” he said.
He had earlier denied to reporters that he was receiving bribes. He also denied the claims of Senator Panfilo Lacson that he was among those in the bureau receiving grease money, based on a list that was given him.
In an earlier letter to Faeldon and Customs Director for Inteligence and Investigation Service Neil Anthony Estrella, Zhang Xiaohui, Head of the International Enforcement Division of the China Bureau of Customs, said that no Filipino was involved in the P6.4 billion shabu shipment. He also said there was no other related shipment that was smuggled through the BOC.
Zhang also lauded the Philippine Custom authorities for the successful seizure of the drug shipment based on an intelligence report on May 26.
The report said the shipment’s carrier was Hing Fei Logistics Co owned by Chen.
NBI-Task Force Against Illegal Drugs head Jonathan Galicia said more than 890 kilograms of shabu seized by the NBI in December 2016 were also shipped by Hong Fei.
Galicia said the shabu, with a street value of P6 million, was seized last year and also passed through the Bureau of Customs.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers on Tuesday said President Duterte should fire Faeldon for incompetence.
“It is a big embarrassment to President Duterte who ordered the raid of illegal drugs laboratories all over the country. This time, they are allowing the entry of illegal drugs through Customs,” Barbers said.
During the House probes, it was discovered that the contraband–which was declared as “kitchen equipment” by EMT Trading–was passed through the BOC’s green lane where shipments do not go through rigid inspection.
The Barbers’ panel also found that the green lane was reserved for trusted importers with good track record. But EMT, a new company, was allowed to pass through the green lane.
These revelations prompted lawmakers to call for Faeldon’s resignation over the alleged corruption at the bureau.
Barbers said Faeldon must be held “liable for gross incompetence and corruption.”
Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service Director Neil Anthony Estrella and Customs Import Assessment Service Director Milo Maestrecampo, who earlier submitted their resignations, continue to report to the bureau, saying that President Duterte has not responded to their letters.
The NBI on Tuesday filed drug trafficking charges against two traders and seven others in connection with the P6.4 billion shabu shipment found in a Valenzuela City warehouse on May 26.
In a complaint, the NBI’s Anti-Organized and Transnational Crime Division accused respondents — Taiwanese nationals Chen Min and Jhu Ming Jyun, Chinese nationals Chen Ju Long or Richard Tan or Richard Chen, Li Guang Feng alias Manny Li and Dong Yi Shen alias Kenneth Dong, and Filipinos Fidel Anoche Dee, broker Mark Ruben Taguba, customs broker Teejay Marcellana and businesswoman Eirene May Tatad – of violating the Dangerous Drug Act of 2002.
The complainant said the respondents caused the importation of the illegal drugs from China, which were later recovered by authorities inside the warehouse of Hongfei Logistics Group of Companies in Valenzuela City whose chairman and general manager is Chen. With Bill Casas, Vito Barcelo and Maricel V. Cruz