Guevarra: Ex-Customs intel agent Guban to stay inside Senate until legislative inquiry ends
MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said former Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban would remain in the Senate compound until the legislative inquiry into the P6.8-billion shabu shipment that slipped past the Bureau of Customs concludes.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday ordered Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde to arrest Guban and bring him to the National Bureau of Investigation.
The chief executive said Albayalde asked him on what ground Guban would be arrested since only courts can issue a warrant of arrest and not a sitting president.
Duterte said: “Albayalde asked, ‘on what ground?’ Just bring him to the (National Bureau of Investigation),” Duterte said in a speech during the Philippine Quality Awards.
But Guevarra, in a message to reporters, said that: “For now, Guban will stay in the custody of the Senate [until] the magnetic lifter inquiry is terminated.”
The NBI is an attached agency of the Department of Justice, which Guevarra heads.
Guevarra, after Duterte ordered Albayalde, said that he has yet to talk to the NBI about the president’s directive to arrest the Customs intelligence officer.
“I have to ask National Bureau Investigation if there’s a subsisting warrant or if there’s any ground for a warrantless arrest,” the Justice chief said.
Guban testified at the Senate hearing on the alleged multi-billion shabu shipment that slipped past BOC last July. He is currently being detained in the Senate compound after he was cited in contempt by the blue ribbon committee for "lying."
The House Representatives is also conducting an inquiry into the said shipment. — Kristine Joy Patag
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