DOJ probes 'leakage' of resolution vs. Acierto, others in drug smuggling case

The Office of the Prosecutor General is investigating the supposed leakage of the resolution charging dismissed police official Eduardo Acierto and seven others in connection with the massive shabu shipments found hidden in magnetic lifters last year.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Friday that the premature release of the resolution "somehow hampered" law enforcement operations for the arrest  of Acierto, former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency deputy director for administration Ismael Fajardo, and the other accused in the drug smuggling case.

A Manila court has recently ordered the arrest of the charged persons, who include the alleged importers and consignees of the shipments. Of the eight individuals indicted, only one, former Customs intelligence agent Jimmy Guban, is in custody.

Online news outlets reported the indictment on April 17. The story appeared in the newspapers the following day.

"The Office of the Prosecutor General is now doing an internal investigation, but we do not discount the possibility that the leak may have sprung outside the DOJ," Guevarra said in a text message.

Asked if the office would invite reporters to the probe, Acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said they "might."

The DOJ resolution recommends the filing of illegal drug importation charges against eight of more than 40 individuals the PDEA and the National Bureau of Investigation accused of wrongdoing in connection with the smuggling of billions of pesos worth of shabu into the Philippines last year.

Two of the cylindrical magnetic lifters that concealed P2.4-billion worth of the contraband was discovered at the Manila International Container Port last August. The following day, authorities found four empty lifters believed to have contained P11-billion worth of shabu in Cavite.

Graft charges against some of the respondents, including former Customs chief Isidro Lapeña, were endorsed to the Office of the Ombudsman for preliminary investigation. —KBK, GMA News