Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 17) — Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon should resign, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman said Thursday.
“He created the system, the system failed. In battle conditions, you’re out. Replace [him with] a new guy,” Senator Richard Gordon told CNN Philippines’ The Source.
Gordon’s committee is investigating the shipment of P6.4 billion worth of metamphetamine hydrocholoride or shabu that slipped through the Bureau of Customs in May.
He said Faeldon’s move to bring fellow soldiers and former mutineers into the bureau cast doubts over their qualifications and his credibility.
“When you… disobey that doctrine in the modernization law of the Customs law na dapat [providing that] the majority must be organic… you’re just creating a red flag na ang perception, kinukuha niyo lahat [where people perceive you steal],” said Gordon.
“So even kung hindi ginawa ng ibang kasama nila, nasasama [So even if some of you are innocent, they get dragged in],” he added.
Lawmakers previously called for Faeldon’s resignation, but President Rodrigo Duterte has thrown his support behind the commissioner.
“Faeldon, I will stand by him. He’s really honest. Kaya lang nalusutan siya because lahat diyan sa Customs, corrupt [It just slipped past him because everyone else in Customs is corrupt],” Duterte said in a speech on Wednesday.
Gordon advised the President to cut Faeldon loose.
“Mr. President, kung yung taong linagay mo nalulunod, at sinasagip mo, at pumipiglas – pati ikaw nalulunod, ilunod mo na yun, kaysa sa sumasama ka pa,” the senator said in the interview.
[Translation: Mr. President, if the person you endorsed is drowning, and you try to save him but he struggles against you – and you’re almost drowning too, leave him to drown instead of joining him.]
Gordon also commented on customs officials and middlemen whom he thought were guilty: Customs Import Assessment Services director Milo Maestrecampo, Intelligence and Investigation Service director Neil Estrella, and businessmen Chen Lu Jong (alias Richard Chen) and Dong Yi Shen (alias Kenneth Dong).
Maestrecampo was tagged as having taken bribes to facilitate processing of the shipment.
Related: Broker tags Customs officials allegedly taking bribe
Gordon said Estrella, who admitted he broke protocol by failing to inform the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) about the warehouse raid that yielded the shipment, was “totally incompetent to handle the evidence.”
Both Maestrecampo and Estrella have since quit their posts.
Related: Customs director resigns amid P6.4 billion shabu issue
Chen, also known as Richard Tan, owns the warehouse where the drugs were found.
Dong, who was the alleged middleman in the shipment and testified before the senate on Tuesday, was arrested shortly after the hearing on separate rape charges.
Related: Alleged middleman in P6.4-B shabu mess arrested for rape
Gordon told CNN Philippines that it was up to the Department of Justice to file cases against those involved.
“I think we have enough to indict Customs,” said Gordon.
He said the recommendation might be included in the Senate preliminary report, which Senate hopes to complete before the next hearing.
The probe into corruption at the Bureau of Customs resumes on August 22, Tuesday.
Lack of public outcry: no probe on Parojinog slay
When asked if the Senate was also planning to investigate the killing of Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog, Sr. and 15 others, Gordon said, “Not now, maybe later.”
Gordon said that there was a lack of public outcry against the case, and they “need witnesses to come out.” The daughter of Parojinog, Vice Mayor Nova Parojinog, had requested senate to look into the killings.
Mayor Parojinog, his wife, and other family members, and personnel were killed when police attempted to serve search warrants on them in their properties on July 30. Parojinog’s surviving family and supporters have claimed it was a rubout, while police said the mayor and his supporters fought back.
The Senate previously investigated the slay of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa in his jail cell. Espinosa was also believed to be involved in drugs.
Both operations were under the jurisdiction of Ozamiz Police Chief Jovie Espenido, who was previously assigned in Albuera, Leyte.
Senators concluded that Espinosa was murdered. Espinosa’s son Kerwin accused Espenido of planting evidence leading to his father’s arrest. The killing of the Albuera mayor led to a senate hearing in November 2016 that found 19 police men guilty of murder.
Espenido has since been transferred to Ozamiz.
Gordon also confirmed that the Senate would open an inquiry into the alleged unexplained wealth of Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista.
Related: BIR forms special team to probe Comelec chair, wife
He said the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions, and Currencies, chaired by Senator Francis Escudero, would likely handle the issue.
