Faeldon can endure detention even if it takes years – lawyer
Former Bureau of Customs (BOC) commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon is willing to stay in detention even for years in protest of the manner by which some senators treat resource persons like him durin g Senate hearings.
Through his lawyer Joe Dino, Faeldon said he could not possibly appear before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee public hearing because a member, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson, in a privilege speech last August 23, already deemed him guilty of widespread corruption.
Instead of appearing before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, chaired by Sen. Richard J. Gordon, Faeldon went straight to the Office of the Senate Sergeant-atArms (OSAA) where Gordon later visited him briefly.
Faeldon refused to appear before Gordon’s public hearing to give his side that he, as alleged in the Lacson privilege speech, received R100 million as a welcome gift when he took over the BOC post in July last year and allegedly received monthly payola from brokers and importers since then.
He lambasted the Senate committee inquiry of straying from its constitutional mandate of conducting investigations in aid of legislation to “in aid of persecution.”
Dino said his client, Faeldon, would rather stay in the four corners of his detention quarters for months or years rather than appear before the committee that violated his constitutional rights.
He also tried to picture his client as a martyr who does not mind being the last person to be detained for an indefinite period with his integrity shredded by senators who do not have a single evidence to support their allegations.
As a Marine trained to withstand hardship, Faeldon, according to Dino, could take the indignities thrown at him by “a handful of indecent senators” but not as an alleged corrupt BOC commissioner.
Aside from Lacson, Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes also questioned the competence and fitness of Faeldon in holding the top BOC post.
Lacson, Faeldon, and Trillanes are all former military officers.
Dino told Senate reporters during a phone-patched interview that he himself would resign his membership at the Philippine Bar Association if there is a witness that could say he has handed the R100-million “welcome gift” to Faeldon last year and other witnesses that the former commissioner was given his monthly share of the “payola” from crooked importers and brokers.
The payola or “tara” at the waterfront was for the easy exit of imports arriving at Philippine ports.
Dino reiterated the call of Faeldon that he would gladly defend himself in a court of law but not before the Senate where some members already judged him as guilty.
He quoted Faeldon as saying that jails do not frighten him as his detention is a small price to pay for his message that he has been savaged with indignities.
“Enough is enough,” Dino said, quoting Faeldon.
Dino said Faeldon is happy and in a fighting spirit after several persons visited him last Monday. The visitors included “many senators” but refused to identify them.