Where’s probe on Lapeña?
Finally. After much denial, evasion and even claims of a demolition job against him, the just-relieved Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Isidro Lapeña grudgingly admitted on Wednesday that the magnetic lifters found in Cavite may, in fact, have contained illegal drugs.
The alleged drug haul, cleared by Customs in July, was first estimated to contain a ton of “shabu” (methamphetamine) worth P6.8 billion. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has revised that appraisal to an even more gargantuan figure—1.618 tons worth P11 billion, making it the biggest case of drug smuggling so far under the Duterte administration.
Lapeña’s admission all but makes imperative an independent probe into the bureau’s utter failure to stop the rampant entry of drugs into the country. This marks the second time Customs has failed to apprehend a giant drug haul at its ports, the P6.4-billion shabu shipment in 2017 being the first.
But, bafflingly, other than hearings in the Senate and the House, there is no official inquiry into the matter. Malacañang has not seen fit to order the Department of Justice or the National Bureau of Investigation to look more closely into a case that strikes at the very heart of President Duterte’s centerpiece war on drugs. Shouldn’t the backsides of the President and his men be afire now in outrage over this signal debacle?
Deserving of scrutiny, at the very least, is Lapeña’s pattern of denial and distraction, including accusing whistleblower Lourdes Mangaoang of being part of a smear campaign against him. Mangaoang, a former Customs X-ray division chief at the Manila International Container Port (MICP), directly contradicted the testimonies of her boss and colleagues by telling a Senate blue ribbon committee that BOC personnel did not follow standard operating procedure in scanning the four magnetic lifters from Taiwan.
In August, PDEA agents found the now-empty magnetic lifters in a Cavite warehouse after a tip-off by the forklift operator who helped transport them. This was after two magnetic lifters containing 355 kilograms of shabu (estimated to be worth P2.4 billion) were intercepted at the MICP. PDEA conducted a swab test and a K-9 sweep on the recovered magnetic lifters; the swab test was negative, but the drug-sniffing dogs responded positively. By then, PDEA director general Aaron Aquino said, the drugs would have already made their way to the market.
Yet, Lapeña insisted that the Cavite shipment went through proper Customs clearance and that the magnetic lifters did not contain shabu. He also claimed that drug syndicates were behind the campaign to portray him as an incompetent BOC commissioner.
Duterte, who had earlier dismissed reports about the shabu in the magnetic lifters as “pure speculation,” continued to back Lapeña. In a speech on Wednesday meant to hail the new batch of National Artists but which typically detoured into his idée fixe, the President declared, “Lapeña is good. He has been with me, he has served Davao City for more than 15 years.” Late yesterday, however, he announced that Lapeña was now to be moved to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
The sudden relief will not let Lapeña off the hook. Mangaoang’s charges, after all, constitute one bombshell after another: That, on Aug. 13, she showed Lapeña X-ray images of the magnetic lifters indicating shabu inside, but that, a day later, Customs officials produced a different set of images before a House hearing. “Despite the fact that I told Lapeña that there was something in them,” she said, her boss took no action—relieved no one, and even allowed his men to testify otherwise in the House.
“For you to say that there was nothing inside, that is cover-up,” said Mangaoang. “They committed perjury.”
More: “Ang pagkakaalam ko in-explain na po ni [Aquino] kay Pangulo at nagpresenta siya ng mga ebidensya at pati po itong image na ito, nakarating na rin po kay Pangulo. Kaya tahimik si Pangulo ngayon dahil sa totoo lang, ang pagkakaalam ko din po, alam na ni Pangulo na may laman talaga ’yan. (As I understand, Aquino has explained this case to the President and showed him the evidence. The President has been quiet so far, but as far as I know, he knows that there are drugs in those containers).”
Now Lapeña has conceded to that position as well. The incendiary, dead-serious charges against him bring the issue right up to Malacañang’s doorstep. Where is the probe that would shed light on what is emerging to be a cover-up of possible high crimes at Customs?
