Court orders Jimmy Guban transferred to Manila jail

A Manila court has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to commit former Customs intelligence agent Jimmy Guban to the city jail as he faces charges for illegal drug importation.

In a May 8 order seen Friday, Judge Bernardita Santos of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 35 denied Guban's motion to remain in the NBI Detention Center, where he has stayed after the Department of Justice terminated his witness protection coverage.

Guban had told the court he feared the Manila City Jail provided inadequate security to ensure his safety given "the political connection and financial capacity" of the personalities he implicated in the smuggling of illegal drugs into the country.

The former intelligence agent testified before the Senate blue ribbon committee on the multi-billion-peso shabu shipment that slipped past authorities last year.

Earlier this year, he was charged in court for the importation of dangerous drugs over his involvement in the smuggling of shabu concealed in magnetic lifters, and now intends to move to become a state witness.

His co-accused include former police official Eduardo Acierto and former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency deputy director for administration Ismael Fajardo.

Trying to convince the court to allow him to stay in NBI custody, Guban also cited the recent abduction of retired police major Lito Pirote in Bacolod City.

However, the court said Guban failed to show proof that the Manila City Jail is ill-equipped to provide him proper security. It added that it "does not subscribe to the idea" that Pirote's abduction "has any connection to this case."

"Moreover, an accused cannot decide on the place where he should serve his preventive imprisonment, otherwise, to allow each and every arrested person to make a choice, would result in confusion and disorder. There would be mess in the criminal justice system," the court's ruling stated. — MDM, GMA News