He can be on leave, but Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), director-general Aaron Aquino, said he would attend congresses on the shipment of P6.8 billion of "shabu" (crystal meth) that his office said they passed the desk had been slipped from Customs (BOC).
President Duterte had dismissed PDEA's smuggling case as "pure speculation."
In an SMS to the applicant, Aquino confirmed that he would be present at the planned hearing in the House of Representatives on 29 August and in the Senate on 30 August.
He said he would return to the country on August 29.
Aquino announced its previously planned leave two days after a committee hearing in Congress, where the BOC challenged its assessment that four empty magnetic lifters found by PDEA agents in Cavite on August 8 contain about one ton shabu.
Similar magnetic lifters
PDEA agents on August 7 also intercepted P4.3 billion of shabu in two comparable magnetic lifters in the port of Manila.
Aquino previously accused customs officials of colluding with drug smugglers after the discovery of the empty magnetic lifters in Cavite.
The BOC denied his accusations. –JAYMEE T. GAMIL
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