MANILA, Philippines?Senator Richard Gordon wants the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to look into reports that rice importations to several Visayas ports included shipments of shabu.

Gordon said he has received reports that the rice came ?mainly from Vietnam? and entered the country through Bacolod, Iloilo and Capiz.

The senator said he planned to investigate the reports as chair of the blue ribbon committee but lack of time prevented him from doing so.

?I suspect shenanigans with the (National Food Authority) rice importation. I was supposed to investigate shabu in Bacolod but we ran out of time. I would have liked the Senate to investigate,? he said.

Gordon also raised the possibility that narco-politics could be behind the shipments.

?It could be fund-raising for elections so I suspect narco-politics but I have no proof. But I have been getting too much noise. Some are even saying everybody knows who?s behind there in Capiz,? he said.

Gordon said he already alerted the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency about the shabu shipments ?not only in Bacolod but in many ports around the country. I am expressing alarm.?

?The stories I?ve heard is that these are wholesale deliveries. It?s very prevalent news and even the PDEA guy who briefed me said there are a lot of drugs in Iloilo and Capiz. I admonish all port operators to be on the lookout for this thing,? the senator added.

Gordon said slipping shabu among the sacks of imported rice could be considered a double whammy ?because at the very least, they are giving us less rice. And at the very most, reports said they bring in ammonium sulfate that can be used for explosives as an adulterator for shabu. So you have less rice and also low quality shabu!?

Meanwhile, former Dangerous Drugs Board chair Vicente Sotto III asked political candidates to check the sources of their donations to ensure that these did not come from drug-related sources.

?To avoid drug money from seeping into the polls, the candidates themselves should refrain from accepting financial assistance from unknown sources,? said Sotto, senatorial bet of the Nationalist People?s Coalition.

?Unfortunately, some of these candidates might have already been infiltrated. Vigilance is the key,? he added.