PRESIDENT Arroyo was livid after receiving reports that a Filipino-Chinese businessman who brought in shabu worth P5 billion last year has escaped with five other suspected drug smugglers, an official said yesterday.

Some officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority could lose their jobs following the escape of Anthony Ang, a free port locator who used the same vessel that he had used to bring in 700 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride here to escape to Taiwan, said Vicente Sotto III, chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board.

It was the biggest shipment seized so far, he said.

?Our initial report, which we will present to the President during the DDB meeting at the Palace [today], shows that SBMA officials allowed Ang to leave the area after apprehending the suspicious cargo that was consigned to him,? Sotto said.

?The cargo turned out to be high-grade shabu. Worse, we have gathered that Ang apparently escaped the country using the same vessel that brought in the shabu.?

Ang brought his entire family to Taiwan including his daughter, who heads the Sangguniang Kabataan in Olongapo City. He had been operating from Subic since 2007.

The shabu seized from his warehouse is said to be worth P5 billion in its pure form and P15 billion when processed.

Sotto said the President herself had received a report that at least P50 million changed hands in Ang?s escape.

He said five other people caught smuggling P556 million worth of shabu and marijuana had also escaped.

?She wants to know what really happened, whose heads will roll, why they escaped, who helped them escape and how to get them back,? Sotto said. Joyce Pangco Pa?ares