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Statement of Senator JV Ejercito on Mayor Tianco’s Inclusion in smuggler’s list

July 20, 2022

I am deeply alarmed by the inclusion of Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco in the latest list of suspected smugglers and their protectors submitted by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) to the Senate Committee of the Whole. While NICA director Edsel Batalla has disowned the said list, the Senate is in possession of records of their witnesses, as well as their visits to the Upper Chamber. This was personally confirmed by Senate President Tito Sotto. 

NICA’s vacillating position on the truthfulness and accuracy of its own list not only puts the agency in an embarrassing position, it also endangers the integrity of the country’s primary intelligence gathering and analysis agency. At the same time, by exposing its own lie, NICA has made a mockery out of the Senate and of due process.

While I am against smuggling in all forms – so much so that I made sure that agricultural smuggling will be considered a heinous crime with the passage of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act – the determination of suspects and the enforcement of the law should never be conducted arbitrarily and without certainty. 

With regards to Mayor Tiangco, I can personally vouch for his character and attest to his commitment to upholding the law. I know him as a fellow alumnus from Xavier School. As Mayor, we were both TOYM awardees for public administration. Moreover, we were both congressmen during the same term. In my view, it would be absurd for the likes of Mayor Tiangco to be involved in smuggling or any criminal act. If he has committed any violation of the law or provided aid thereto, due and the rule of law should prevail. After all, we are a government of laws, not men.




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