Lawmakers threaten contempt charges vs suspected smuggler Bigcas

Lawmakers on Monday threatened to hold suspected smuggler Lynard Allan Bigcas in contempt for supposedly giving conflicting statements during a House subcommittee probe about smuggled vehicles entering the country through Mindanao ports. Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali reprimanded Bigcas for repeatedly "forgetting" details that were being asked of him during the hearing. “Huwag na ho kayong magsinungaling... Paiyak-iyak ka pa na you are a legitimate businessman but all that you are doing are not legitimate. Huwag mo na kaming paikutin dito sa Kongreso," he said during the probe. Bigcas however maintained he is “willing to cooperate" in the investigation and insisted that he just cannot remember certain details on the purchases of vehicles he made in the United States. The House appropriation panel’s subcommittee on customs, tariff and related laws continued on Monday its probe into the allegedly illegal entry of luxury cars and motorcycles from the US to the Philippines through Mindanao ports. Meanwhile, Cagayan De Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez grilled Bigcas for his earlier statements that he broke down high-end motorcycles and placed the parts inside balikbayan boxes and sent them to the Philippines through Mindanao ports. Rodriguez said he finds it difficult to believe that it was physically possible for a person to dismantle parts of big bikes and place them inside boxes. “With all due respect, I still do not buy that story and I believe this was entered through the Philippines through our ports. Probably, there will be charges that will be filed," he said during the same hearing. However, Bigcas maintained that he was capable of dismantling the motorcycles and placing them in boxing since he has worked with these vehicles for a long time. “You give me four or five balikbayan (boxes) and you give me a motorcycle, I can put it inside the boxes," he said. Bigcas is currently facing charges of illegal possession of firearms at the Bukidnon Provincial Prosecutors’ Office after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raid of his property in the area yielded high-powered firearms and luxury vehicles. - VVP, GMA News