MANILA: Senate detained former Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon on Monday. Senator Richard Gordon said Faeldon told him he is not willing to face Senators Ping Lacson and Antonio Trillanes IV during the Senate probe.
Faeldon on September 8 said he’d rather be detained than attend another Senate hearing on the shabu mess. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on September 7 cited Faeldon for contempt for ignoring invitations to appear at the hearings on alleged drug smuggling and corruption in the Bureau of Customs. The Blue Ribbon committee has held six hearings since July 31, 2017 until September 7. Of the six, Faeldon has only attended three. It was during Faeldon’s term as head of the Bureau of Customs that ₱6.4 billion worth of shabu was smuggled from China into the Philippines in May 2017.