Sotto: Nothing illegal about request for promotion at BOC

Go ahead, arrest me.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said this in jest on Monday after former Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon accused him of making an “illegal request”  from him.

At the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee, Faeldon named at least two senators –  Sotto and Minority Leader Franklin Drilon – who allegedly made “illegal requests” in 2016 while he was at the Bureau of Customs.

Faeldon said Sotto had personally requested him to promote a Customs employee as intelligence chief while Drilon had asked him to sign a memorandum of agreement that would convert a Customs house in Iloilo into a museum.

READ: Faeldon claims 2 senators made ‘illegal requests’ from him while at BoC

Sotto admitted making such request but said there was nothing “illegal” with it.

“There was a request, yes,” Sotto told reporters. “ Ang tanong ko nga: Ano ang illegal sa request?”

Sotto also denied that he “insisted” on the employee’s promotion.

“Yung insist hindi rin totoo yun. Pero kung mag insist ka man, anong illegal dun? Halika na ikulong niyo na ako,” he said in jest.

The Majority Leader believed Faeldon was just trying to divert the issue from his possible “culpability” in the P64-billion shabu shipment scandal hounding the BoC.

“I think the former Commissioner should stick to the issue. Ang issue paano nakalabas yung P6.4 billion na shabu,”  Sotto said.

“Dragging my name into whatever illegal daw na hindi naman illegal will not, ika nga eh, remove his culpability or their culpability. Sagutin niya na yun,” he added. /atm

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