MANILA - The Senate has summoned Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to explain the slow progress of the cases in connection with the P6.4 billion shabu shipment from China.

Senator Richard "Dick" Gordon, Blue Ribbon Committee chair, said the case is moving too slowly considering that it has been months since the discovery of the shabu shipment.

"Sa susunod, dadalhin natin dito si Secretary of Justice mismo. He is now under subpoena to explain why up to now, the case has not progressed in a manner that it should have," he said Monday.

"Kasama 'yan sa kasalanan ng Customs, PDEA, NBI, na hindi nai-file agad 'yang mga bagay na 'yan nang makuha niyo 'yung droga," Gordon added.

The senator said Customs officials broke protocol when they did not cooperate with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in handling the seized illegal drugs.

Gordon said all evidence, after being accounted for, has to be destroyed in public to make sure that such huge amount of illegal drugs will not be used to plant evidence in police operations.

The shipment from China that slipped past Customs last May 2017 contained around 600 kilograms of shabu. It was discovered in the warehouse of Chinese businessman Richard Chen in Valenzuela.