Vice President Sara Duterte
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte on Saturday said she cannot comment on the 2018 shabu importation mess allegedly involving her husband, Mans Carpio and brother, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte.
“Unfortunately, I cannot speak for Congressman Pulong Duterte. I understand mayroon siyang mga statement na nilalabas para sa pagsagot ng issue na ito,” she said in an ambush interview after her attendance at the 39th Kadayawan Festival in Davao City on Saturday.
(Unfortunately, I cannot speak for Congressman Pulong Duterte. I understand he has released statements to address this issue.)
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“At napag-usapan din namin ng aking asawa, si Mans Carpio, na kung ano yung sa kanya na issue, siya lang ‘yung sasagot at ano yung sa akin, yan lang din ang sasagutin ko para klaro ‘yung mga linya ng pagsasagot namin,” Duterte added.
(And my husband, Mans Carpio, and I also discussed that he would address his own issues, and I would address mine so that our responses are clear.)
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‘Real owners’
Jimmy Guban, a former customs intelligence officer, told a congressional joint committee hearing on Friday that the real “owners” of the billion-peso shipment of shabu in 2018 were Rep. Duterte, Carpio, and businessman Michael Yang.
He added that he was warned not to implicate the three individuals in the drug shipment.
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Guban told lawmakers that former environment undersecretary Benny Antiporda sent an emissary to warn and threaten him that he would die if he tagged Rep. Duterte, Carpio, and Yang in the controversy.
Vice President Duterte said the allegation of Guban is “political harassment” and “political attacks.”
“But as I always say, hindi lang diyan sa kaso na ini-file sa kanila, lahat ito ay political harassment, political attacks. Nakikita niya naman lumabas siya nung umalis ako sa DepEd [Department of Education] lumabas siya nung nagsasalita ako kung anong dapat ginagawa natin para sa ating bayan,” Vice President Duterte said.
(But as I always say, not just in the case filed against them, all of this is political harassment, political attacks. You can see it came out when I left DepEd [Department of Education], it came out when I was speaking about what we should be doing for our country.