PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte advised on Wednesday, October 24, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino and Bureau of Customs (BOC) Chief Isidro Lapeña to stop pointing at each other over the P6.8-billion worth of shabu that allegedly slipped past the country's port inspections.
Duterte made the call, as he praised Aquino and Lapeña, who have been trading barbs over the supposed presence of a ton of shabu with an estimated value of P6.8 billion in the empty magnetic lifters discovered at a warehouse in General Mariano Alvarez town in Cavite on August 9.
The President said the two official's public squabble would only worsen the drug situation in the country.
"Lapeña is good. He has been with men he has served Davao City for more than 15 years. Pati iyan si Aaron (Aaron is also good)," he said in a speech delivered at Palace's Rizal Hall.
"Kaya nalulusutan sila. Instead of killing the idiots, sila nagtuturuan (That's why it slipped past them. Instead of killing the idiots, they are pointig figers at each other). Stop blaming each other," he added.
On August 10, Aquino said drug-sniffing dogs had traced shabu in the empty magnetic lifters seized n Cavite on August 9.
A day after the PDEA chief's claim, Lapeña said there was an "information gap" between the PDEA agents and the Customs officials over the discovery of empty magnetic lifters with traces of shabu.
On August 14, Duterte said he was "not convinced" that an estimated P6.8 billion worth of shabu were successfully smuggled and could already be circulating in the streets, dismissing Aquino's claim as "pure speculation."
But recently, Lapeña backpedaled and admitted that the magnetic lifters found in Cavite may have contained illegal drugs.
Aquino said he was "happy" that the BOC chief now thinks that the magnetic lifters in Cavite now contained illegal drugs. (SunStar Philippines)