Blue ribbon to zero in on NBI agent in P6.4-B shabu shipment mess

Senator Richard Gordon on Tuesday said the Senate will go “hammer and tongs” after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agent who is being linked to the P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China.

At the resumption of the hearing being conducted by the blue ribbon committee, Gordon, who chairs the panel, also called out the NBI for its “kabaro” system, or the supposed practice of protecting a colleague.

“Tama na 'yang kabaro. Diyan nasisira ang buong NBI, nasisira ang buong kapulisan, pati judges, dahil sa kabaro system,” Gordon, who chairs the blue ribbon committee, told NBI Deputy Director for Investigative Services Vicente de Guzman III.

“Hindi porke kabaro exempted 'yan,” Gordon said after asking for the location and designation of NBI special action unit chief Lito Magno and receiving vague replies from De Guzman.

Magno was the NBI agent who was “consulted” by Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service Director Neil Estrella prior to the raid on the shabu shipment.

Estrella has admitted that there was a protocol breach in the raid, as drug raids first have to be coordinated with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Gordon then asked what happened to Magno and whether he was investigated or not. 

De Guzman said Magno was assigned at the Office of the Deputy Director for Regional Operations Service in Region III at the time of the raid or when Estrella consulted him.

Gordon then said Magno may have been recalled from Region III because of “issues.” He then again asked if Magno is under investigation and learned that the NBI agent is currently in Region I and “on his own.”

“This is why we are going to go hammer and tongs [after] Estrella and this person (Magno),” Gordon said, adding that the case against the two would have to be final if the proceedings would continue. —KBK/KVD, GMA News