VALENZUELA City Rep. Wesley Gatchalian slammed the Bureau of Customs on Sunday for its raid of other warehouses to search for more containers of shabu here without coordinating with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
He expressed fear that another shipment of shabu might be missing and could end up on the streets of Valenzuela City.
Gatchalian made his statement even as Senate Majority Leader Franklin Drilon said Sunday the government could no longer rely on the current leadership of the Bureau of Customs to collect the taxes necessary to finance the government’s programs.
He doubted if the agency could meet its target revenues to support the government’s infrastructure program due to what he said was the high level of corruption in it.
Citing government data, Drilon said Custom’s collection for the first half of the year reached P210.64 billion, which was still behind its P218.71- billion target for January to June 2017. The agency is targeting to collect P468 billion this year.
Gatchalian believed 18 craters of the drugs had gone missing in Valenzuela, adding the city’s Paso de Blas and Ugong villages were industrial areas near the North Luzon Expressway, which could be used to smuggle the drugs out.
“Why was there a need for a second raid on May 30, or four days after the first raid, without informing the PDEA and the media? What document did they use to search the places?” he said.
“That is against the law. What are they [Customs] looking for?”
Gatchalian said not even the National Bureau of Investigation was sought to help in the second raid in which Customs nonetheless failed to find any drugs.
“I have this big feeling that a big syndicate is operating with the involvement of the BoC. The shipment of the shabu was deliberately allowed to pass through the green lane,” he said.
Gatchalian filed House Resolution 1057 seeking a probe in aid of legislation Customs’ express lane system that allowed the entry of one container of shabu worth P6.4 billion.
“Each container has 23 craters, but only five were produced. Where are the other 18 craters?” he said.
But he said the proposal of his fellow lawmakers to give Customs no money in 2018 was “unrealistic.”
“If you don’t give the bureau enough budget to buy equipment, the more the drug syndicates will have the chance to bring in more contraband to the country,” he said.