LIVE: House panels resume inquiry into missing P6.8-B shabu

MANILA, Philippines – The House committees on dangerous drugs and good government resume their probe into the missing one ton of shabu (methamphetamine) worth P6.8 billion at 10 am on Wednesday, October 24.

The supposed illegal drugs are currently believed have been packed inside 4 magnetic lifters found in Cavite in August and are now circulating in Philippine streets.

So far the probe has focused on two things: The alleged incompetence of the Bureau of Customs, and the emerging collusion of law enforcers in arranging for the magnetic lifters to be imported inside the country.

X-ray division’s incompetence? As former X-ray chief Lourdes Mangaoang had repeatedly said, the BOC failed to follow standard operating procedures in scanning then clearing the magnetic lifters in July.

She said that the X-ray inspectors should have opened the shipment and inspect the magnetic lifters as they have spaces inside them that could contain contraband. Mangaoang argued that no Customs memorandum needs to be passed for this since this is part of the “basics” in X-ray training.

Collusion? The so-called triumvirate of resigned Customs intel officer Jimmy Guban, sacked Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) deputy chief Ismael Fajardo, and dismissed police Senior Superintendent Eduardo Acierto remain an enigma in the probe. (READ: PNP, PDEA, BOC officers implicated in P6.8-B shabu probe)

Lawmakers from both the House and the Senate have so far gotten Guban to admit that he was instructed by Acierto to look for a consignee-for-hire to receive the magnetic lifters into the country.

As Fajardo is a longtime friend and colleague of Guban, PDEA chief Aaron Aquino believes he knew something about the arrangement but did not share it with his colleagues.

Lawmakers race against time as the 17th Congress is set to adjourn before elections in 2019. 

Watch the hearing live on Rappler. – Rappler.com