By Camille A. Aguinaldo

SENATORS ON Monday agreed on the transfer of detained former Customs commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon from the Senate premises to the Pasay City Jail.

“The Senate unanimously declared that Mr. Faeldon, formerly of Customs, will remain charged with contempt and he will now be remanded to custody of the Pasay City Jail upon order of commitment by the Senate President. And it was agreed upon unanimously,” Senator Richard J. Gordon, who chairs the Senate blue ribbon committee, said during Monday’s session.

Mr. Faeldon has been detained in the Senate in Pasay City since Sept. 11, 2017, after skipping the probe into the shipment of illegal drugs worth P6.4 billion that slipped past the Bureau of Customs (BoC).

The order for his transfer also came on the same day Mr. Faeldon filed a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court, asking for his release in detention.

In an interview with reporters, Mr. Gordon said it was Mr. Faeldon’s behavior during Monday’s Senate hearing on the corruption at the BoC that prompted senators to move the former Customs’ chief detention to the Pasay City Jail.

“It’s the behavior. It’s his defiance na ayaw niyang humarap. Basta sasabihin ngayon public official na ako, haharap na ako. Hindi pwede (that he does not want to appear. He says he will appear now because he is a public official. That cannot be),” Mr. Gordon said.

During Monday’s hearing, Messrs. Faeldon and Gordon got into a heated exchange after the latter mentioned that the former held a party last December with his family while in detention and that the expenses incurred by the Senate for his detention reached P400,000.

Mr. Faeldon told Mr. Gordon that he was exaggerating on his dinner with his family last Christmas.

“I attended this hearing, sir, because I am now a government employee, not because I expect that you will lead this committee to find out the truth. You are so far from getting that, your honor,” Mr Faeldon said.

“All right. Then you will remain under contempt,” Mr. Gordon fired back.

It was Mr. Faeldon’s first appearance in the Senate investigation since his detention. At the hearing, he also tagged Senators Vicente C. Sotto III and Franklin M. Drilon in “illegal requests” involving the BoC while he was Customs chief.

He claimed Mr. Sotto personally asked him to appoint a customs official to the bureau’s Intelligence and Investigation Service. He also said Mr. Drilon asked him in 2016 to sign a memorandum of agreement between the BoC and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) regarding the renovation of a museum in Iloilo City.

In an interview with reporters, Mr. Sotto said there was nothing illegal about recommending to Mr. Faeldon the promotion of a Customs employee. “He (referring to the Customs officials) was with the Customs for a long time. He asked for a promotion. There was a request. My question is, what was illegal in the request?” he said.

Mr. Drilon, for his part, said he was bewildered by Mr. Faeldon’s statements. “This is a project which seeks to restore historical sites in Iloilo City….In fact, the office was being improved….I don’t understand what he’s talking about,” he told reporters.

Mr. Faeldon also admitted to meeting Kimberly Gamboa and the Teves group, two of the five players allegedly pulling strings at the BoC in facilitating the release of shipments coming into the country. He told senators that they had approached him while he was then Customs chief and inquired about their shipments that he had placed on hold.

As for the remaining players, Mr. Faeldon said he was never in contact with David Tan, Manny Santos and the Davao Group.

Senator Panfilo M. Lacson earlier named the five players in the BoC during his privilege speech on Aug. 23, 2017, exposing the “tara” or grease money system hounding the agency.

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