Lapeña flip-flops on the problem of drugs smuggled; Duterte orders the arrest of Guban

The customs commissioner, Isidro Lapeña, acknowledged Wednesday that a reserve of "shabu" (crystal meth) worth billions of pesos was concealed in four magnetic devices seized by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in a warehouse in the province of Cavite.

Lapeña's confession took place shortly before President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the arrest of Jimmy Guban, the former customs intelligence officer involved in the drug trade, with a value of 6, $ 8 billion.

While pursuing the House's investigation into the case, Lapeña virtually justified the PDEA's chief executive, Aaron Aquino, and the deputy tax collector Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang, who both insisted on the fact that the elevators contained shabu.

The chief of customs had crossed the line with Mangaoang, whom he had accused of being part of an alleged demolition work hatched by groups of drug traffickers to defame him as well as the Customs Bureau (BOC) .

Separate testimonies

Asked by Romeo Acop, representative of the city of Antipolo, Lapeña resumed his words after hearing the testimonies of Guban and several other people at the hearing of the committee chaired by Robert Barbers, representative of Surigao del Norte.

Acop, a retired police general, told Lapeña that several news items revealed during the hearing corroborated the claims of Aquino and Mangaoang.

"With these developments, I will have the tendency to believe that there is indeed content that has been peddled by this group, by this drug syndicate," Lapeña said.

Acop hailed Lapeña's admission and defended insinuations that he could protect the drug syndicate behind the drug trade.

Incompetence

"I do not think you are covering the entrance of illegal drugs," Acop said. "I personally think that you are covering the incompetence or inefficiency of your people. That's what I see. "

The President ordered the arrest of Guban during a speech in Malacañang on the evils of corruption and extortion within the government.

"That's why I ordered Guban to be arrested. I said, just after the [House] session, you stop it, "said Duterte.

According to the president, it is Guban who authorized the entry of smuggling and "simulated the piece of identity".

"If you ever do that, son of a bitch, you make fun of me," he says.

A Senate investigation into drug trafficking cited Guban as an outrage to the lie. He found that Guban had asked SMYD Trading to be the recipient of the drug shipment in order to facilitate his entry, supposedly to aid an operation against another shipment.

Guban then appealed to Joel Maritana to sign an affidavit protecting the owner of SMYD Trading. -With a report by Leila B. Salaverria

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