Panelo denies asking Gordon for Faeldon’s release

Presidential Chief Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo. INQUIRER PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

Presidential Chief Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo denied on Tuesday that he asked Sen. Richard Gordon to release former Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon from Senate detention.

Gordon confirmed on Monday that Panelo requested for him to release Faeldon when they met last week.

“Sabi niya ‘Mabait naman ‘yan, palabasin niyo na ‘yan.’ Sabi ko, ‘Kung mabait ‘yan, palabasin ko ‘yan. Kung hindi siya mabait, sorry,’” Gordon said in an interview.

(He told me, “Faeldon is a good person, let him go.” I said, “If he really is a good person, I’d let him go. If not, sorry.”)

But Panelo denied this, saying the senator misunderstood him.

“No. What I told him is that I advised Faeldon to attend the hearing if he is subpoenaed and answer the questions of the Senate Committee so that he can be released and start with his new appointment. He may have misunderstood me,” Panelo told reporters in a text message.

Panelo recalled Gordon also wanted the release of Faeldon but was only waiting for the former Customs chief to attend the Senate hearing.

“He told me he wanted Faeldon released and he is only waiting for him to attend. I suggested that the committee subpoena him but he said Faeldon doesn’t want. I told him he could try again because Faeldon told me he would if he received a subpoena and his lawyer would not object to his appearance,” he said.

“Then a few days he [Gordon] texted me and told me that Faeldon still didn’t want to appear,” he added.

Panelo said he had visited Faeldon in his detention cell after the Senate hearing on Constitutional amendments.

“I pitied Faeldon because he has been detained for so long already. Hence the visit as a show of sympathy,” he said.

On Monday, Faeldon appeared in the Senate hearing after threats of being transferred to the Pasay City jail if he continued to refuse to attend the hearings.

He, however, traded barbs with Gordon over the alleged corruption at the Bureau of Customs during the probe.

Faeldon was later ordered to be sent to the Pasay City jail after his heated exchange with Gordon. /je