SENATOR Richard Gordon on Sunday said he will ask Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II why corruption charges were not filed against Bureau of Customs officials over the P6.4 billion worth of shabu that slipped past Customs inspectors in May last year.
From all angles, Customs officials did not do their job, they changed the system, and they failed to investigate the incident.
“How did they investigate? It appeared that [they] were lax,” said Gordon, who is leading the Senate investigation into the smuggling incident.
Gordon also expressed fears that alleged Customs fixer Mark Taguba, who had confessed in the smuggling of drugs from China during Blue Ribbon committee hearings, might be absolved of the charges.
The senator cited reports that Taguba is contemplating on applying to be a state witness in the drug smuggling case.
Taguba, he said, should not be a state witness because he’s the most guilty.
“He was with them,” he said.
The Justice department filed 24 drug importation charges against Taguba and eight others linked to the shabu shipment before a Manila regional trial court on Jan. 24.
A separate complaint was also filed gainst the same people at the Valenzuela City regional trial court.