Senators vote on Faeldon’s transfer of detention from Senate to Pasay jail

SENATORS ON Monday agreed on the transfer of detained former Customs commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon from the Senate premises to the Pasay City Jail.

“The Senate unanimously declared that Mr. Faeldon, formerly of Customs, will remain charged with contempt and he will now be remanded to custody of the Pasay City Jail upon order of commitment by the Senate President. And it was agreed upon unanimously,” Senator Richard J. Gordon, who chairs the Senate blue ribbon committee, said during Monday’s session.

Mr. Faeldon has been detained in the Senate in Pasay City since Sept. 11, 2017, after skipping the probe into the shipment of illegal drugs worth P6.4 billion that slipped past the Bureau of Customs (BoC).

The order for his transfer also came on the same day Mr. Faeldon filed a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court, asking for his release in detention.

In an interview with reporters, Mr. Gordon said it was Mr. Faeldon’s behavior during Monday’s Senate hearing on the corruption at the BoC that prompted senators to move the former Customs’ chief detention to the Pasay City Jail.

“It’s the behavior. It’s his defiance na ayaw niyang humarap. Basta sasabihin ngayon public official na ako, haharap na ako. Hindi pwede ( that he does not want to appear. He says he will appear now because he is a public official. That cannot be),” Mr. Gordon said.

During Monday’s hearing, Messrs. Faeldon and Gordon got into a heated exchange after the latter mentioned that the former held a party last December with his family while in detention and that the expenses incurred by the Senate for his detention reached P400,000.