Duterte tells PDEA, Customs chiefs “stop blaming each other”

October 25, 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered on Wednesday the heads of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency ( PDEA) and the Bureau of Customs to refrain from blaming each other over the supposed entry of the P6.8 billion illegal drugs in the country.

In a speech in Malacañang, Duterte said that PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino and Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña should instead focus in going after the drug syndicates and the illegal drugs.

"That's why it slipped past them, instead of killing the idiots, they are pointing fingers at each other," he said.

"Stop blaming each other," he said.

Aquino and Lapeña have been engaged in public bickering.

The PDEA chief has been insisting that the four empty magnetic lifters found in Cavite recently contained shabu and the illegal drugs that were confiscated in some areas in Metro Manila matched with the residue that their agents collected from the lifters.

The Customs chief, on the other hand, previously insisted that no illegal drugs managed to enter the country using the lifters. But in a House inquiry on Wednesday, Lapeña changed his position, agreeing on the possibility that shabu could have been placed inside those lifters recovered in Cavite.

Despite the squabble, Duterte hailed both Aquino and Lapeña, saying they are good.

“Lapeña is good. He has been with me. He has served Davao City for more than 15 years. Also Aquino,” he said. Celerina Monte/DMS