FREEZE ORDER. Authorities serve a freeze order on one of the 17 properties of two drug personalities on Monday (Sept. 27, 2021). The order covers 173 bank and credit accounts, insurance policies, 17 properties, and five motor vehicles of Julie Hao Gamboa, alias Kimberly, and spouses Ruben and Teresita Taguba. (Photo courtesy of PDEA)
MANILA – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Monday served a freeze order on the bank and credit accounts and assets of two suspected drug personalities.
PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva said the order was issued against the bank and credit accounts, insurance policies, real properties, and motor vehicles of Julie Hao Gamboa, alias Kimberly, and spouses Ruben and Teresita Taguba.
The order covers 173 bank and credit accounts, insurance policies, 17 properties, and five motor vehicles of the suspects. The suspects’ real properties have a conservative market value of at least PHP70 million.
The 5th Division of the Court of Appeals (CA) issued a resolution on May 27, 2021, granting the petition for the issuance of a freeze order.
Customs Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Group Raniel Ramiro said the case is connected to the seizure of PHP1.8 billion worth of shabu at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) on March 22, 2019.
Combined operatives of PDEA Intelligence and Investigation Service (IIS), PDEA Regional Office-National Capital Region (RO-NCR), and BOC intercepted a total of 276 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, which were concealed in tea packs and came from a shipment originating from Vietnam.
“Our anti-illegal drugs operations have been successful in intercepting several high-profile cases recently. We assure the public that we are doing our best to protect our borders and secure the country from the entry of illegal drugs,” Ramiro said in a statement.
“Since the bureau is at the helm of the country’s border security, we’ve been working extensively with the MICP against illegal smuggling in our ports,” he added.
On May 31, 2019, PDEA filed a criminal complaint before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Xu Zhi Jian, alias Jacky Co, a Chinese national, and 16 others for the importation of the PHP1.8 billion shabu shipment.
The case was also referred by PDEA and BOC to the AMLC Secretariat for investigation and possible filing of civil forfeiture and money laundering cases.
Gamboa was among the cohorts of Jian in the supposed smuggling of the 276 kilos of shabu through MICP in May 2019. She was also allegedly responsible for the illegal release of 105 containers from the Port of Manila back in 2018.
She has no registered business and maintains a total of 81 accounts in different banks that transacted millions of pesos and also has three properties and four registered motor vehicles.
On the other hand, Taguba was a former Custom police officer and father of Mark Taguba, who is the subject of a separate investigation involving the shipment of 602 kilos of shabu confiscated from a warehouse in Valenzuela City in May 2017.
The older Taguba has 21 properties registered under his name and made hundreds of millions of pesos worth of bank transactions using 21 different bank accounts. He is also maintaining a joint account with Gamboa which received 108 fund transfers amounting to PHP51.1 million from the latter’s personal account.
“The posting of preservation orders on the two properties sends a strong message to potential drug money launderers that despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, the PDEA, AMLC and BOC continue to intensify efforts against personalities belonging to the upper echelon of the drug trade,” Villanueva said.
“We will be closely working together to track down the trail of drug money, arrest and forfeit the assets of drug money launderers,” he added. (with reports from Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)
