Gordon must have misunderstood me, Panelo says
(Eagle News)– Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo on Tuesday denied he asked Senator Richard Gordon to release former Customs Chief Nicanor Faeldon from Senate detention.
“No..He may have misunderstood me,” he said.
According to Panelo, he told Gordon that he “advised Faeldon to attend the hearing if he is subpoenaed and answer the questions of the Senate committee so that he can be released and start with his new appointment.”
“(Gordon) told me he wanted Faeldon released and he is only waiting for him to attend. I suggested that the committee subpoena him but he said Faeldon doesn’t want. I told him he could try again because Faeldon told me he would if he received a subpoena and his lawyer would not object to his appearance,” Panelo said.
He said after “a few days (Gordon texted) me and told me that Faeldon still (didn’t) want to appear.”
Panelo said he visited Faeldon in his detention cell
“i pitied Faeldon because he has been detained for so long already. Hence the visit as a show of sympathy,” Panelo said.
Faeldon has been detained since September over his refusal to attend Senate blue ribbon committee hearings on corruption in the Bureau of Customs and on the shabu shipment mess in May.
On Tuesday, he was transferred to the Pasay City Jail.