Customs exec in P6.5-B drug smuggling try now in House custody —Fariñas

The missing Bureau of Customs official who could have prevented the P6.5-billion shabu shipment from China last May is already under the custody of the House of Representatives, Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas said on Monday.

"[Larribert Hilario] is under the protective custody of the sergeant-at-arms as authorized by the Speaker [Pantaleon Alvarez]," Farinas told reporters in an ambush interview.

"Yung allegedly na-suspend? Nandiyan na siya. May mga testimony siya na talagang magliliwanag," he added.

At the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee inquiry on the shabu shipment, BOC Deputy Commissioner Gerardo Gambala said it was Hilario who failed to encode information that would have classified EMT Trading to go through the appropriate lane.

Hilario is the chief of the BOC's risk management office.

EMT Trading allegedly owns the smuggled drugs.

The proper encoding of the firm's information would have prevented the goods from entering the country through the express lane.

“He was not able to update 'yung list of new importers para 'pag tumama sa parameter, it will either go to yellow, red or green,” Gambala said.

Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon said Hilario had already been suspended and could not be located.

"As soon as the information came up, I called him in my office. I told him right in his face, 'Atty. Hilario, I am suspending you effective today, May 30, because I am going to conduct an investigation on how you have worked in your office. I even told him to find a good lawyer because we have a strong case indicating that [he had] neglected [his] duty. That is how I dealt with it," he said.

Farinas, in the interview, said officials could not be suspended verbally.

"Ang lumabas kanina is he was placed under suspension daw, but there is no verbal suspension under the administrative code. Kapag suspendihin mo yung tao, i-charge mo. Kapag pending investigation of the charge, if the evidence of guilt is strong, then preventive suspension. But you cannot just tell a person na suspended ka verbally," he said.

Fariñas said Hilario would also stand as resource persons for the House's separate inquiry into the matter either on Tuesday, with the Committee on Dangerous Drugs, or Wednesday, with the Committee on Ways and Means.

"Important [yung testimony niya] dahil siya yung in charge sa risk monitoring office. I don't want to preempt his testimony, pero maliliwanagan. Na-interview ko na siya, magbibigay liwanag siya," Fariñas said. —NB/KVD, GMA News