Duterte: Faeldon asked me to relieve him thrice

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (File photo by BULLIT MARQUEZ / AP)

President Rodrigo Duterte revealed on Thursday that Customs Chief Nicanor Faeldon has asked to relieve him of his post amid the P6.4 billion illegal drugs issue at the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

“Si Faeldon has written me thrice asking me to relieve him. Noon pang simula ‘yan (Back when it all started),” Duterte said in a speech at the Ozamis City Police Station in Misamis Occidental.

He said Faeldon admitted he failed his promise to clean the Customs of corruption.

“Sabi niya, ‘hindi ko natupad pangako ko sa inyo’ (He said, ‘I wasn’t able to fulfill my promise to you’). He was right — sabi niya ‘hindi ko nakontrol sir, hindi ko talaga kaya’ (He said ‘I wasn’t able to control it, I can’t do it’),” he said.

The President described the BOC as “corrupt to the core.”

“It is a corrupt to the core,” he said.

“Tapos ‘yung mga Bureau of Customs na inaasahan ko, p—–ina, nasa droga. How will I succeed, e nasa droga. Alam ko na nagkamali ako. Nagkamali talaga ako. Hindi ko naman talaga akalain, ‘yang Bureau of Customs na ‘yan, akala ko kaalyado ko,” he added.

(And those in the Bureau of Customs whom I’m counting on [expletive] are in drugs. How will I succeed when they’re involved in drugs? I made a mistake. I never thought that would happen to the Bureau of Customs, I thought they were my allies.)

But he absolved Faeldon of any corruption activities.

“Well, si Faeldon is not the one,” he said.

Duterte on Wednesday described Faeldon as an “honest” man.

“I stand by him. Really honest,” he said in a speech during the celebration of the 19th founding anniversary of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) in Malacañang. JE