Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon (File photo by PATHRICIA ROXAS / INQUIRER.net)
Malacañang should listen to clamor from both the Senate and House for Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon to resign, senators said on Friday.
“The bipartisan clamor should be enough basis for Malacanang to show the door to the commissioner and a number of his people,” Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said in a text message.
Pangilinan stressed that the many other appointees have been fired for offenses lighter than what Faeldon had allegedly committed as BOC chair.
The BOC is under fire for allowing the entry of P6.4 billion worth of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) from China into the country. Both chambers of Congress have been conducting hearings on the controversy.
“Many other appointees have been fired for lesser offenses. We trust that Malacañang will heed the calls and act accordingly. The question was whether they think the P6.4-billion shabu smuggling controversy is getting closer (or) will reach the doorsteps of Malacañang,” Pangilinan said.
Meanwhile, Senate blue ribbon committee chairman Richard Gordon said that after Faeldon had placed himself in a position that should force him to resign out of delicadeza.
“I have been asked why I want Commissioner Faeldon to resign. My answer is not so much that I want him to; but, that his performance in the Bureau of Customs has proven to be a failure. He has placed himself in a position that was/is way above his head. Is there, thus, a need for a call for Faeldon’s resignation? No, he does not need prodding in that regard. His dismal performance did him in,” he said in a statement.
“He bungled the anti-drug (P6.4B shabu) raid. None has been arrested for two and a half months now, save for a caretaker-cum-fall-guy,” he said.
Gordon also vowed to push the investigation further following the recent discovery of three crates containing cylinders believed to be filled with 1,800 kilograms of shabu.
He said the P6.4 billion shipment “may just be a decoy, that bigger shipments could have already been released into the market.”
“We will not be distracted by this. That is something that we have assumed already and that is why we will continue to investigate sternly,” he said.
Due to non-payment of monthly rental, three crates with cylinders believed to be containing illegal drugs like the one raided in Valenzuela City last May were found by operatives at an apartment unit in Sampaloc, Manila.
Danny and Alexandra Bolina, owners of the said apartment, said that a certain Lu Chin Wei, a Taiwanese national, rented the apartment unit at 1457 A. Maceda St. sometime in April.
After the discovery of the controversial 604 kilos of shabu shipment in Valenzuela City, Wei has nowhere to be found or contacted, which prompted the owners to inspect the unit where they found the three abandoned crates.
They immediately reported them to the barangay (village) chief, who immediately contacted the National Bureau of Investigation and the Manila Police District.
Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, meanwhile, said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) should dig deeper on the matter and trace the ones who received the three other containers.
“PDEA should lose no time in pursuing what could be a significant lead as to who possibly received the mysterious 3 other containers probably containing 1,800 (kilograms) of shabu that were part of the shipments that Chen Julong aka Richard Tan, owner of Hongfei Xiamen and Hongfei Philippines facilitated through Taguba, Marcellana and EMT (Trading) with Customs but not yet accounted for,” he said in a text message. IDL