FORMER Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon on Thursday said Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and the so-called Davao Group never asked for special favors from him.
“No, there was nothing illegal that he requested from me,” he told a press conference in Taytay, Rizal.
“I think he respects me too much because of my relationship to his father and I don’t believe Pulong will ever do that. Personal experience, Vice [Mayor] Pulong has never asked me [for] any illegal activity,” he added.
On the so-called Davao Group, the resigned Customs chief said he never met the group nor received any favors from them.
“No one has ever introduced himself to me as Davao group and asked for illegal request,” Faeldon said.
On Tuesday, self-confessed Customs “fixer” Mark Taguba showed the Senate blue ribbon committee a text message he supposedly received mentioning the names “Paolo” and “Pulong” before he met with Davao councilor Nilo “Small” Abellera Jr. to personally pay a P5-million “enrollment fee” that would allow his shipments to go through the Bureau of Customs “without being alerted.”