Bangayan a fall guy?

MANILA, Philippines - Are Davidson Bangayan and David Tan one and the same person? Or is he just a fall guy?

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said David Tan is the alias of Davidson Bangayan.

Two lawyers believe otherwise.

Argee Guevarra, the lawyer who had exposed alleged anomalies in the National Food Authority (NFA)’s rice importation, said allegations against Bangayan could be a desperate attempt to camouflage rice smuggling through the agriculture department’s public sector monopoly of rice trading.

“The truth is out that there is no David Tan from Davao to speak of, but a Davidson Bangayan from Manila whose brush with the law is for allegedly pilfering electricity, not rice smuggling,” he said.

For his part, Benito Salazar, Bangayan’s lawyer, said he has received information that groups and individuals plan to go around the country to convince members of cooperatives to corroborate the brazen lie that Davidson Bangayan and David Tan are one and the same.

In a statement, Salazar said an “orchestrated and well-funded campaign” is being waged against his client.

“We have an idea who they are, but unlike them, we will not be so quick to name names until such time that our words actually mean something in the courts of law,” he said.

“Logic, however, tells us the following: they are well-funded to be able to go around the country at a moment’s notice and it serves the interests of certain quarters that the public’s attention is misdirected on these absurd accusations.”

Speaking to reporters, Guevarra said Tan could be “repackaged” as Bangayan to save face and shore up credibility of people involved in rice smuggling.

“Given the farcical lengths with which David Tan was surfaced as Davidson Bangayan – from the realm of obscurity to the spotlight of notoriety, it appears that Mr. Bangayan is being primed up as a fall guy,” he said.

Guevarra said the NBI could pursue another possible lead to David Tan.

“The NBI should validate information that there is really a David Tan, but he is not a Filipino but a Hong Kong national,” he said.

“This David Tan was supposed to be a former business partner of Secretary Alcala in the rice trading business until their alleged relationship soured,” he said, referring to Agriculture Secretary Proceso Akcala.

The NBI is set to invite Jesus Arranza, Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) chairman and the source of allegations against Bangayan, as a resource person.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the NBI will further verify the alleged links between Bangayan and Tan as the two have the same registered address.

The NBI will likewise formally ask the Caloocan Regional Trial Court Branch 126 for records of the electric pilferage case against Tan.

The Caloocan court issued the arrest warrant specifying “David Tan who is not Davidson Bangayan.”

The arrest warrant was the NBI’s basis in arresting Bangayan after he appeared before the agency on Tuesday to deny reports linking him to rice smuggling.

De Lima said she was baffled why the court specifically clarified in the arrest warrant that Bangayan and Tan are not the same person.

She would check how Bangayan was able to secure an NBI clearance, she added.

On Tuesday afternoon, Caloocan Judge Lorenza Bordios-Paculdo, who is handling the electricity pilferage case against Tan, flared up upon seeing reporters talking to her staff and inquiring about the records of the case.

Three NBI agents were also in Paculdo’s court to verify if the person in their main office in Taft Avenue, Manila is the same person who has a standing warrant of arrest for violation of Republic Act 7832, the Anti-Electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act of 1994.

At first, one of the staff was very accommodating and told reporters to wait or “coordinate with the men from the NBI because they were also here for the same purpose.“

Immediately, Paculdo called her staff inside her office to a meeting, leaving an employee behind to tend to the office.

After less than an hour, the staff came out and said that they are not allowing reporters to read documents of the case because only those with “legal personality” are given access to sensitive papers.

When the reporters did not budge, a court aide said those who wanted access to the case should make a written request addressed to the judge.

The request will be given to a prosecutor who will evaluate and decide if it would be granted, the aide said.

The NBI agents left shortly before 3 p.m. but did not divulge their findings.

One of the agents who declined to be named, however, said Tan need not appear in court if he was indeed the subject of the warrant.

“All he has to do is send his lawyers so they could post bail,” the agent said.

The NBI is still validating other information, “including reports of his alleged protectors and connections,” the agent added. – Edu Punay, Rey Galupo, Paolo Romero