(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday sent summons for Bureau of Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon to go to Malacañang in the middle of the hearing of the House of Representatives committee on the P6.4 billion shabu shipment wherein Faeldon’s men had not followed proper procedure.
It was Surigao del Norte Second District Representative Robert Ace Barbers himself who had announced that Faeldon was being called to the Palace by the President.
“I just want to inform the honorable members of the committee that the President has called for Commissioner Faeldon at 4 p.m. today in Malacanang. So we will allow him to leave and we will allow him to see the President today,” he said.
Duterte has also called Senate leaders to a meeting in Malacañang set at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. It was scheduled an hour after the meeting with Faeldon.
Senators and congressmen have questioned why such a huge amount of illegal drugs was able to get past the supposedly stringent measures of the Bureau of Customs.
Senator Vicente Sotto III said that the President called the meeting with the senators after the Senate conducted a hearing on the operation of the Customs department conducted in Valenzuela warehouses where illegal drugs shipment had been located.
A broker allegedly claimed in an executive session at the Senate that certain Customs officials were involved in the smuggling of shabu worth P6.4 billion.
In the hearing Tuesday afternoon at the House of Representatives, a director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) criticized Faeldon for not following proper procedure in the handling of the illegal drugs shipment that came from China.
PDEA regional director Wilkins Villanueva said Faeldon felt he knew better than PDEA officials.
“Sir kasi ang problema, pag anti-drug operation, makinig kayo sa PDEA. Ang problema nagmamagaling-magalingan tayo dito wala tayong alam. One crate is not possible for controlled delivery and cannot be used as evidence for controlled delivery operations,” he told Faeldon during the hearing.
Sotto said Duterte had also asked Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Minority Leader Franklin Drilon to attend the meeting in Malacanang.
Faeldon has refused to resign amid calls from lawmakers for him to step down as Customs chief after he “bungled” an operation concerning 605 kilos of shabu from China, insisting it was only President Duterte who can call for his resignation.
