Senate rejects Faeldon’s Nazarene furlough request

He may have gotten a fresh appointment from President Duterte and he may rant about his rights being trampled upon, but the Senate is still not freeing former customs chief Nicanor Faeldon from detention, senators said yesterday.

Faeldon railed yesterday against Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee, and other senators for continuing to inflict “cruel, degrading and inhumane punishment” against him.

Faeldon has been in detention for contempt since September last year after he refused to continue to testify before the committee, which was conducting an inquiry into the smuggling of some P6.4 billion worth of shabu from China that slipped through the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

He said Gordon refused to allow him to visit his family last Christmas and attend the birth of his child; and deprived him of his right to be examined

by his doctor due to his heart condition and practice his religious beliefs.

“Go ahead, Senator Gordon. Kick me and punish me some more, if that makes you a bigger man,” Faeldon said in a statement posted on Twitter.

“I thought that Senator Gordon was man enough to stand up to the cement-smuggler senator. I was wrong again,” he said, adding that he expected “extreme cruelty” from Sens. Panfilo Lacson and Antonio Trillanes IV but not from the Blue Ribbon chairman.

The two senators have accused Faeldon of protecting smugglers while heading the BOC for a year. Faeldon filed a complaint for economic sabotage against Lacson, accusing the senator of protecting cement smugglers.

Faeldon also accused Gordon of denying his request to take his oath of office before Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana scheduled on Jan. 10 after he was appointed to the Office of Civil Defense.

Gordon justified his denials of the requests even as he maintained that Faeldon cannot be released “without his having cleansed himself of his contumacious conduct, the very reason why he is detained.”

He confirmed that Faeldon made several requests, including attending the traslacion or the barefoot procession of Black Nazarene devotees, without escorts from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA), who are guarding him.

“An important reason why his request for a furlough could not be granted is also because (retired Marine) Capt. Faeldon is held for contempt of the committee and thus of the Senate. The citation for contempt was, and still is, a collegial act which the chair, on his own, cannot reverse,” Gordon said in a statement.

He said letting Faeldon out without OSAA guards – even temporarily – would mean that the former customs chief was being released from Senate custody without the contempt order being formally lifted by the committee.

Gordon said he could not release Faeldon on his own and the committee should decide such a move.

He said there were continuing concerns over Faeldon’s safety, especially if he attends the religious procession attended by millions of other devotees.

Gordon said Faeldon can still take his oath of office at the Senate.

“If he is allowed to go out and take his oath, nothing can prevent him from hiding behind his appointment and then saying, ‘you cannot detain me anymore as I am now assistant secretary,’” Gordon added.

He warned such an incident could trigger a constitutional crisis.

For his part, Lacson yesterday said Faeldon was clearly clueless with regard to the laws related to his office when he was head of the BOC.

Responding to the repeated claims made by Faeldon about how the senator and his son Panfilo Lacson Jr. were involved in the smuggling of cement, Lacson reiterated that this cannot happen because cement is not subjected to tariff.

“No wonder why Faeldon is in big trouble facing a nonbailable case of agricultural smuggling. He doesn’t have a clue about the Tariff and Customs Code and the (Customs Modernization and Tariff Act),” Lacson said.

Faeldon claimed that Lacson was hot on his case because of his discovery that the senator’s son was allegedly involved in cement smuggling through a private company that he owns.

Lacson has denied the claim of Faeldon and said all of his son’s dealings were aboveboard.

In a privilege speech, Lacson revealed corrupt activities in the BOC, particularly the collection of so-called “tara” or a fee paid by importers in lieu of going through normal assessment.