Rice smuggling case vs Bangayan back to NBI

MANILA, Philippines - The case against alleged rice smuggling king David Bangayan, alias “David Tan,” has been returned by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed this yesterday as she ordered the NBI to gather more evidence against Bangayan.

De Lima clarified that the case is not back to scratch as reported by a newspaper over the weekend.

“The report is wrong… I wouldn’t say that the evidence is weak. We just need additional documents,” she said in an interview.

De Lima said the NBI may re-file the charges against Bangayan this week.

She refuted the report, which said that the NBI had failed to prove that Bangayan and David Tan were one and the same person.

“We were able to prove that Bangayan and Tan are one and the same person that’s why we filed perjury charges against him so it’s not back to square one,” she said.

De Lima said the smuggling raps against Bangayan is one of the priority cases she would discuss with DOJ officials before she resigns from her post on Oct. 12 in preparation for her Senate run in 2016.