(Eagle News) — Senator Richard Gordon is set to summon San Juan Regional Trial Court Judge Jovencio Gascon to the next blue ribbon committee hearing into the P6.4-billion drug shipment that slipped through the Bureau of Customs via express lanes, and corruption in that agency.
This was after it was revealed in Thursday’s hearing that Gascon failed to order the destruction of 890 kilograms of shabu seized in December 2016.
According to Senator Panfilo Lacson, the illegal drugs should have been destroyed after at least five days upon confiscation.
He said the drugs should be submitted to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for “qualitative examination,” the results of which “should be issued within 24 hours.”
“The court, within 72 hours, shall conduct an ocular inspection and, through the PDEA, within 24 hours, they shall proceed with the destruction,” he said.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said he raised the issue with Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in their last conference in Cebu on Aug. 20, and was later informed that the judge was on medical leave as he was “really in poor health.”
Gordon, the blue ribbon committee chair, later told reporters that if this was the case, Gascon could be excused but he would still have to be subpoenaed and would have to show up in the next hearing on Sept. 25.
“Ang importante sa akin ay malaman ng Korte Suprema na yung huwes, dinedelay yung kaso. Ten months. Di ba tayo nagugulat dito?” he said.
He said the Supreme Court should have replaced the judge if they knew he was “not available and sick.”
“They can change the judge but the judge has no business delaying the proceedings because mandatory and sinasabi doon sa batas,” Gordon said.