PDEA's Aquino on shabu smuggling issue: I'm not blaming BOC

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino on Thursday said he is not blaming anybody — not even the Bureau of Customs and its head — for the shabu believed to be worth P6.8 billion that slipped through the country.

"First and foremost, I am not blaming anybody. I am not blaming the commissioner. I am not blaming the Bureau of Customs," Aquino said during the Kapihan sa Klub in San Juan City.

"Ang ginagawa lang ng PDEA is maghanap ng paraan to support our claims, to support our investigation."

Aquino said this a day after President Rodrigo Duterte pointed out that Aquino and Lapeña seem to be blaming each other for the controversy instead of hunting down drug lords.

Stressing that he is not blaming Lapeña and the BOC, Aquino said the PDEA is also being dragged into the controversy through Deputy Director General, Ismael Fajardo Jr.

According to Aquino, PDEA is just exerting efforts to unravel the case of the now missing shabu, which were believed stuffed in four magnetic lifters that were found empty in Cavite.

Aquino and Lapeña had earlier clashed on whether the lifters were used in smuggling the shabu, as Lapeña initially said there is no proof of that.

The PDEA has asked the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the issue. Aquino said the investigation does not intend to discredit anyone or any government agency.

“This is to prove that there are indeed something inside the magnetic filters,” he said.

On Wednesday, after attending a hearing on the issue at the House of Representatives, Lapeña said he is now inclined to believe there were shabu placed inside the four magnetic filters.

Aquino said that he is happy that he and Lapeña are now on the same page in the investigation. "Finally, we can move on and target the war on drugs," he said. —KBK, GMA News