MANILA—Sen. Richard Gordon has his own guess as to the identities of the 2 police colonels tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte in the illegal drug trade.

"Baka siguro sina Col. [Eduardo] Acierto 'yan at Col. [Ismael] Fajardo. Nanghuhula lang ako, wala ako personal knowledge kung sino nasa isip niya [Duterte]," the head of the Senate blue ribbon committee said.

Acierto, a former official of the Philippine National Police (PNP), and Fajardo, a former deputy chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), are both at large after having been implicated in major drug hauls.

Fajardo was tagged by a former Customs intelligence officer of having prior knowledge of the P2.4-billion worth of “shabu” found inside magnetic lifters abandoned at the Manila International Port in 2018.

Acierto has also been linked to the shipment, as well as P11-billion worth of “shabu” that slipped past Customs in 2017.

• Manila court orders arrest of ex-cop Acierto, 7 others linked to shabu haul in magnetic lifters

At a prominent political forum in Sochi, Russia, Duterte revealed that at least 2 colonels are involved in the illegal drug trade.

"And right now, even as I fly here and go back, there are about again 2 generals who are still playing with drugs. And I said, 'Well, I told you do not destroy my country because it is being flooded with drugs,'" he said.

Duterte, however, did not name the 2 colonels or identified whether they come from the military or police.

His remarks came amid investigation of the so-called "ninja cops" or police officers involved in the recycling of confiscated drugs.—With a report from Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News