Alleged rice smuggler Davidson Bangayan rearrested, released - GMA News

NBI rearrests Davidson Bangayan for power pilferage. Alleged rice smuggler Davidson Bangayan a.k.a. David Tan is escorted by NBI agents on Monday, February 3, after he was rearrested over a pending power pilferage case. Bangayan was rearrested after appearing at a Senate hearing where he was cited for contempt for allegedly lying under oath about his identity. Bangayan has repeatedly denied that he's David Tan. Danny Pata

(Updated 6:53 p.m.) Arrested Monday by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), usinessman Davidson Bangayan, believed to be big-time rice smuggler David Tan, was released hours later after posting bail.

At around 5 p.m., a smiling Bangayan faced the media as his release papers came out, shortly after he posted a P40,000 bail for the electric pilferage case he is facing before a Caloocan City court and the reason why he was arrested earlier in the day.

“You are hereby directed to discharge from custody the person of David Tan alias Davidson Bangayan, he having filed cash bond in the amount of P40,000,” read the release order.

Last month, the NBI seized Bangayan, with the belief that he is David Tan, in connection with a pending case before the Caloocan City Regional Trial Court for the violation of Republic Act 7832 (Anti-Electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act).

Bangayan, who has repeatedly denied that he's David Tan, was rearrested after attending a Senate investigation on rice smuggling where he was cited for contempt for allegedly lying under oath.

Senate agriculture committee chairwoman Cynthia Villar said her panel decided to cite Bangayan for contempt after he repeatedly denied being David Tan despite court records showing otherwise.

The Manila Regional Trial Court, where Bangayan posted bail, said he should be released “provided there exists no order in any other case to the effect that he remains confined under your custody.”

Bangayan posted bail at the Manila Regional Trial Court, right after undergoing booking procedures at the NBI headquarters in Manila where his mugshot and fingerprints were taken, and where he underwent medical checkup.

“We are posting bail at the Manila RTC. You can post bail in any court. And we chose Manila because it's nearer,” said his lawyer Benito Salazar.

Salazar said after posting his client's bail that they will still “think about the next step that we will be taking.”

Salazar also said his client would not leave the country as he criticized the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the NBI for repeatedly insisting Tan and Bangayan are one and the same, but kept on citing “anonymous” sources to back up their claims.

In defense, NBI Director Virgilio Mendez said they had to keep their witnesses' identity from the public for security purposes.

"We have to protect their identities in the meantime. We'll reveal them later on," Mendez said, adding that the witnesses they would be using against Bangayan were credible.

The NBI has likewise taken statements of farmers cooperatives to determine the specific participation of Bangayan in the separate accusations of rice smuggling against him

Bangayan was arrested after attending Monday's Senate inquiry on rice smuggling by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by the Caloocan City Regional Trial Court Branch 126.

The case, filed against a certain Rose Tan and David Tan, among others, accused them of violating Republic Act 7832 or the Anti-Electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act of 1994.

Salazar earlier confirmed that the name indicated in the arrest warrant and in the RTC case was David Tan and not Davidson Bangayan.

Bangayan had repeatedly claim he is not David Tan, but documents submitted to the Department of Justice about a libel case filed by Bangayan against Jesus Arranza, chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries in 2005, showed him identifying himself as using the alias David Tan. — KBK, GMA News

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