Faeldon told: Testify or go to jail

Sen. Richard Gordon is inclined to release Nicanor Faeldon (left) if the former customs chief will attend the hearing and testify. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Former Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon may end up behind bars if he again refuses to appear at Monday’s resumption of the Senate blue ribbon committee’s inquiry into alleged corruption at the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Sen. Richard Gordon, the committee chair, said on Sunday that he and the members of the panel had decided to transfer Faeldon to a city jail because of the former BOC chief’s repeated refusal to attend the hearings.

“We have to protect the Senate … Can you imagine if we call someone and [the resource person] will not attend, then we cannot get to the bottom of [the problem],” Gordon said in a radio interview.

Held in Senate basement

Faeldon has been detained in the Senate building since September last year for refusing to testify on accusations by Sen. Panfilo Lacson that there is corruption in the BOC and that he—during his short stint in the bureau—benefited from it.

Faeldon, who resigned from the BOC at the height of a narcotics smuggling scandal in the bureau last year, has denied the accusation and filed an ethics complaint against Lacson and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

President Duterte has appointed Faeldon deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense despite his detention in the Senate building.

Asked whether Faeldon would be transferred to the Pasay City jail, Gordon said it was not a remote possibility.

He reiterated, however, that personally he was inclined to order the release of Faeldon if the former customs chief would attend the hearing and testify.

“You know I don’t threaten, I just do it,” the senator said, adding that the Senate has to do something about the situation eventually.

Gordon said he was not happy that Faeldon remained held in the Senate basement because the Senate was spending for Faeldon’s needs there.

Gordon also noted that Faeldon was not behind bars but occupying an air-conditioned room in the Senate basement .

Cited for contempt

The blue ribbon committee cited Faeldon for contempt last September after he refused to testify at the hearing on the alleged payola system at the BOC, as well as the inquiry into the P6.4-billion “shabu” (crystal meth) shipment that slipped past the bureau last year.

Faeldon told senators he would rather face the court than the committee.

In a privilege speech, Lacson had identified Faeldon and other BOC officials and employees as benefiting from the payola system called “tara” at the bureau.

Lacson named the broker, bribe givers and others allegedly involved in the tara system.

Faeldon accused both Lacson and Trillanes of prejudging him as involved in corruption at the BOC.

The blue ribbon committee has allowed Faeldon to leave the Senate premises on two occasions, one of which was when he took his oath for his new job at the Department of National Defense earlier this month. —Christine O. Avendaño