DOJ clearing Faeldon is ‘the best vindication,’ says camp

Former bureau of customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon raises a fist as he attends the preliminary investigation of the DOJ on drug trafficking on Thursday, Oct 5, 2017. INQUIRER / Grig C. Montegrande

The camp of former Customs Chief Nicanor Faeldon felt “vindicated” after the Department of Justice (DOJ) had absolved him from drug charges in relation to the P6.4 billion worth of smuggled shabu that entered the country in May.

“The DOJ resolution absolves us and (it is) the best vindication for us,” Faeldon’s lawyer Jose Diño told reporters on Thursday.

The charges against Faeldon stemmed from the P6.4 billion smuggled shabu from China that slipped past Customs.

The Senate blue ribbon committee conducted an inquiry into this, and had recommended the filing of criminal charges against Faeldon and three of his officials.

READ: Blue ribbon draft reports seeks charges vs Faeldon, 12 others

But on Wednesday, the DOJ ruled to dismiss the drug charges against Faeldon and other Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials.

READ: DOJ clears Faeldon, et al. on smuggling of P6.4-B shabu

Despite the dismissal of the case, Diño said Faeldon would not ask the Senate to release him from detention. The Senate blue ribbon panel had ordered the detention of Faeldon after he repeatedly refused to appear before the panel’s hearing.

“We have not asked the Senate, specifically the blue ribbon committee, nor will we ever request it to release Captain Faeldon despite the vindication that we received that the DOJ has absolved us from any liability insofar as the smuggled P6.4 billion shabu is concerned,” Diño said.

Asked why, Diño answered: “He is there in the first place because of the message that he wanted to impart to the Filipino people.

“And that is, nobody has to face an investigation in aid of persecution and based on one senator, an investigation based on obsession,” he added.

Diño also maintained Faeldon’s innocence from all the allegations that he had a hand in the BOC’s “tara system, pasalubong, more so of the drug shipment.”

“Everything is playing out to what we think is the only logical conclusion to all of these which is, Captain Faeldon is being subjected to lies and a vilification campaign which nobody will ever prove because of a simple fact that there is no evidence, and Captain Faeldon did nothing wrong, be it tara, pasalubong; more so, drugs,” he said.

Faeldon’s lawyer also said Faeldon is doing well at the Senate’s detention facility and has remained “in a good fighting form.” /je