By Arjay L. Balinbin

DETAINED former customs commissioner (BoC) Nicanor E. Faeldon posted a statement on his Twitter account on Thursday night, Jan.4, accusing Senator Richard J. Gordon, chairperson of the Senate blue-ribbon committee (SBRC), of inflicting “cruel, degrading and inhuman punishment” upon him.

“I thought all along that cruel, degrading and inhuman punishment had been outlawed under our Constitution. I was wrong,” Mr. Faeldon said.

“Sen. Gordon, in his capacity as Chairman of the SBRC, and for reasons known only to him, has inflicted and is inflicting upon me the following cruel, degrading and inhumane punishment: a.) he deprived me of the company of my loved ones last Christmas and New Year’s day, b.) he deprived me of my right to be examined by my cardiologist, in view of my heart ailment for which I was confined last August 2017, c). he deprived me of my right to my religious practices, d.)he deprived me of my right to take my oath of office before DND Secretary (Delfin N.) Lorenzana and Usec. (Ricardo B.) Jalad at 0800 hours on 10 January 2018, and to whom I was supposed to take orders from before returning to my detention room (a mere 4-hours request, under guard), and, e.) he deprived me of my human and father’s right to be present at my youngest child’s birth.”

President Rodrigo R. Duterte appointed Mr. Faeldon as deputy administrator III of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) last Dec. 22.

Mr. Faeldon has been detained since September last year for failing to attend the Senate probe on the P6.4-billion shabu smuggled from China. He has been also accused of raking in bribes, including the P100-million “welcome gift” he purportedly received upon assuming office at the Bureau of Customs in 2016.

The former customs chief likewise said that Mr. Gordon inflicted those punishments “upon the orders of the cement-smuggler senator, who vowed vengeance against (him) for exposing him and his son’s cement-smuggling racket.”

Mr. Faeldon had earlier accused the son of Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, Jr. last year of smuggling cement through the BoC. He claimed that the younger Mr. Lacson’s company, Bonjourno, is the country’s number one smuggler of cement.

“I thought that Sen. Gordon was man enough to stand up to the cement-smuggler senator. I was wrong again. While I totally expected extreme cruelty from the likes of Lacson and (Sen. Antonio F.) Trillanes, I never expected that from Sen. Gordon. What happened to you, Sen. Gordon?” Mr. Faeldon also said.

He further said he was “warned” that if he “came out with this press statement, (his) visitation rights would be totally cut off, along with the electricity and water in (his) detention room.”

“Go ahead Sen. Gordon, kick me and punish me some more, if that makes you a bigger man,” Mr. Faeldon said.

Responding to Mr. Faeldon’s accusation, Mr. Gordon said, “It is…preposterous for there to be any claim that Captain Faeldon would be deprived of water, power and visitation rights. This is beneath the dignity of the Committee and the Chair.”

Mr. Gordon also said Mr. Faeldon’s “request for a furlough could not be granted…because (he) is held for contempt of the Committee and thus of the Senate. The citation for contempt was, and still is, a collegial act which the Chair, on his own, cannot reverse,” adding, “(he) has been appointed to a position in the Executive Department. If he is allowed to go out and take his oath, nothing can prevent him from hiding behind his appointment and then saying, you cannot detain me anymore as I am now Assistant Secretary.”

“Prudence, in this situation, dictates that such possible constitutional crisis between the Legislative and Executive be prevented before it becomes probable,” Mr. Gordon further explained.

For his part, Mr. Lacson said: “No wonder Faeldon is in big trouble facing a non bailable case of agricultural smuggling. He doesn’t have a clue about the customs and tariff code and the CMTA (Customs Modernization and Tariff Act). Why? There can’t be smuggling of cement simply because it is not subject to tariff. For quite a long time that he served as commissioner, he dedicated most if not all his time counting Tara instead of learning the customs code.”

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