Former Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon may be detained at the New Bilibid Prison or at the Pasay City Jail if he refuses to attend the Senate hearing on Monday, according to Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Lacson said it would be up to Faeldon if he would allowed to be arrested instead of attending the Senate blue ribbon committee’s hearing on the P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China on Monday at 9 a.m.
Last Friday, Faeldon said he would surrender to the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms on Monday, but insisted that he will no longer participate in the hearings of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“I will go to [the] Senate [on] Monday and let myself [be] arrested,” Faeldon said.
“I will not attend any hearings by both house[s of Congress],” he added. “Puwede nila akong buhatin, paupuin doon but still my position is, I will not participate.”
Faeldon was cited in contempt by the Senate blue ribbon committee headed by Senator Richard Gordon on Thursday for failing to respond to the panel’s subpoena. The committee then signed an order for his arrest if he would not show up in the next hearing.
The Senate sergeant-at-arms had served the contempt and arrest order at Faeldon’s residence in Taytay, Rizal on Friday.
Lacson earlier accused Faeldon and other Customs officials of receiving payola. In turn, Faeldon linked Lacson’s son to smuggling.
Meanwhile, Lacson on Saturday said he thinks Customs fixer Mark Taguba’s removal from Senate custody was to blame for his sudden “retraction” on Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and lawyer Manases Carpio’s alleged involvement on the corruption in the Bureau of Customs.
Lacson said he would ask the Senate blue ribbon committee to restore the protective custody granted to Taguba.
Taguba had apologized to President Rodrigo Duterte’s family and clarified that his knowledge on the younger Duterte and Carpio’s supposed involvement on the corruption within the BOC was just based on “hearsay.”
The vice mayor is President Duterte’s son, while Carpio is his son-in-law, being the husband of his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
Lacson said he had no idea who removed Taguba from the government’s protective custody.
For Lacson, Taguba had always been “cooperative” during the Senate’s hearing on the drug shipment from China.