THE Sandiganbayan has affirmed the warrant of arrest it issued against former Bureau of Customs (BOC) commissioner, Nicanor Faeldon, for the release of two shipments of ‘smuggled rice’ at the Port of Cagayan de Oro in 2017.
In a resolution dated September 16, 2021, the court dismissed Faeldon’s petition to dismiss the warrant of arrest it issued last February thru a ‘minute’ (one-page) resolution “for lack of merit.”
Also dismissed was Faeldon’s motion to set aside the minute resolution and the HDO (hold departure order) the court issued to the Bureau of Immigration (Bi) to prevent Faeldon from leaving the country.
“[T]he Urgent Omnibus Motion dated May 19, 2021 and Supplement dated May 24, 2021 of accused Nicanor E. Faeldon… are denied for lack of merit,” the Sandiganbayan said.
Faeldon, a former officer of the Philippine Marines and convicted ‘mutineer’ for participating in the many failed coup plots against then Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was Pres. Duterte’s first customs commissioner. He assumed the top customs post in June 2016, or as soon as Pres. Duterte became the country’s 16th President.
In a privilege speech last August 23, 2017, Sen. Panfilo Lacson named Faeldon, who was forced to retire two days earlier, as being on the top of the list of Pres. Duterte’s appointees at the bureau whom he labeled as “corrupt.” Lacson claimed that Faeldon was among the beneficiaries of the notorious “tara system” at the waterfront.
The following month, on September 28, 2017, Lacson also charged Faeldon with corruption and economic sabotage before the Ombudsman over the release of two shipments of rice from Vietnam consigned to ‘Cebu Lite Trading, Inc. (CLTI) worth P34 million at the Port of Cagayan de Oro.
The shipment, totaling some 40,000 bags of Vietnam white rice, had already been forfeited on its arrival in March for lack of import permit. Despite this, Lacson said Faeldon allowed the shipments’ release the following month.
Faeldon’s co-accused in the case is former National Food Administration (NFA) head, Jason Aquino and CLTI executive, Rowena Lim.
Faeldon and Lacson have been clashing prior to this, after Faeldon ordered the seizure of the cement shipments of Lacson’s son, Panfilo Jr., for “undervaluation.” The younger Lacson is known to be doing business at the waterfront as a trader and businessman.
Faeldon was ordered to ‘resign’ by Pres. Duterte on August 21, 2017, two days before Lacson’s Senate speech, over the issue of shabu smuggling that ended up being investigated by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.
He was then transferred by Pres. Duterte as Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director on November 18, 2018 but was fired after 10 months, in September 2019, over the scandal involving the ‘good conduct time allowance’ (GCTA) for convicted prisoners. Among the near-beneficiaries of the racket was former Calauan, Laguna mayor, Antonio Sanchez, who was found guilty of rape and murder involving two students from the University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Laguna campus in 1993.
In its latest ruling, the Sandiganbayan said it found “no cogent reasons to depart from its earlier finding of probable cause.”
The court also warned Faeldon’s lawyer, Jelina Maree D. Magsuci, not to use intemperate language in her pleadings.
The court said “that a repetition of a similar analogous act (by Magsuci) shall be properly dealt with more severely.”