BoC, PDEA clash

RESOURCE speakers (from left) Ruel Lasala, PDEA deputy director general; Ismael Fajardo, NCR director; Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña, and Port of Manila District Collector and BoC spokesman Erastus Sandino Austria take their oaths before the start of House Committee on Dangerous Drugs probe on the latest drugs haul at the Port of Manila. DEXTER GATOC

The House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, which conducted a hearing on the recently discovered new batch of smuggled drugs at the Bureau of Customs (BoC) yesterday, now dangles the possibility of citing Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Chief Aaron Aquino for contempt if he will still miss the second call for the continuation of the probe.

The House will compel Aquino to attend the hearings on the alleged smuggling of P6.8-billion shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) into the country through the BoC, with Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop demanding that Aquino be sent a “strongly worded letter” for his absence during the motu proprio investigation.

Committee chairman Robert Ace Barbers said he received advice from Aquino claiming that the PDEA head is out of town to attend to a “very important commitment.”

But Acop did not take that explanation and moved to force Aquino’s presence at the next hearing.

“May I move that a strongly worded letter be written to the head of PDEA to attend this hearing. (It’s) simply because there are certain problems that have cropped up and that he will be the only one who will be able to answer these. These statements came from his own mouth,” Acop said.