Madriaga: Sara Duterte’s husband sought my help over seized shabu-filled magnetic lifters

MANILA, Philippines – Ramil Madriaga, the alleged former bagman of Vice President Sara Duterte, claimed that the Vice President’s husband, Mans Carpio, sought his help over magnetic lifters filled with shabu that were seized in Cavite during the administration of Rodrigo Duterte.

Madriaga told the House justice committee hearing the impeachment complaint against the Vice President on Tuesday, April 14, that in 2017 or 2018, then-president Rodrigo Duterte supposedly asked him to assist his son-in-law about a “problem with the Bureau of Customs,” without providing specifics.

Madriaga supposedly subsequently met with Carpio, and the latter allegedly asked him to “assist in facilitating the release of what he called a construction equipment which was flagged and confiscated by the BOC.”

“I learned that the construction equipment was actually magnetic lifters and the same were confiscated because it contained a large amount of shabu. However, the female lawyer informed me that it was difficult to release the same because it was a ‘hot item,'” Madriaga recalled.

“Later, I learned that the contents of the magnetic lifters, at least 500 kilograms of shabu worth P4.3 billion, were mysteriously missing,” he added.

The shabu scandal gripped the Duterte administration in 2018, when empty magnetic lifters, suspected to be containing 1,000 kilograms of shabu, were found at a warehouse in Cavite.

Then-president Duterte later said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s claim that shabu was smuggled inside the magnetic lifters was “pure speculation.”

Former customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban, former PDEA deputy director Ismael Fajardo, and former police officer Eduardo Acierto were later tagged by Department of Justice prosecutors as “core conspirators” in the shipment.

Guban, who was later convicted of drug smuggling, told the House quad committee in 2024 that Carpio, Davao 1st District Representative Paolo Duterte, and former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang allegedly owned the magnetic lifters.

Watch a portion of Madriaga’s testimony here. – Rappler.com