Former Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon 黑料社 FILE PHOTO
The Senate will no longer serve the arrest order against former Bureau of Customs (BOC) chief Nicanor Faeldon pending his appearance at Monday鈥檚 hearing on the P6.4 billion worth of smuggled drugs shipment from China, Senate Sergeant-At-Arms Jose V. Balajadia Jr. said on Friday.
Balajadia said he already sent his men to enforce Faeldon鈥檚 arrest Friday morning but later ordered them to pull out after he was told by Senator Richard Gordon that the arrest order would only take effect if the former Customs official would again fail to appear at the hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on Monday.
Balajadia said his office received the arrest order signed by Senate President Aquilino 鈥淜oko鈥� Pimentel III Thursday night after the committee chaired by Gordon threatened to cite Faeldon for contempt and have him arrested for his repeated failure to attend the probe.
Upon receipt of the order, Balajadia immediately sent a team to serve the arrest order against Faeldon Thursday night but they were assured that the latter would voluntarily surrender this Friday morning.
But when he learned that Faeldon would hold a press conference at 10 a.m. at his residence in Taytay this Friday, the Sergeant-at-Arms said he phoned Gordon that they would arrest the former BOC official even in public.
READ: Senate issues arrest order vs Faeldon
It was at that point, Balajadia said, that Gordon explained to him that the arrest order would only take effect if Faeldon would not show up in the next hearing.
鈥淎ng sabi ni Senator聽Gordon, sa Monday if he does not appear聽dun magte-take effect ang arrest order,鈥� Balajadia said over the phone.
鈥淢ali siguro聽ang pagkaintindi ko鈥�,鈥� he added.
But Balajadia聽strongly denied speculations that his office聽had a 鈥渨eak鈥� intelligence, noting that聽he already sent his people聽to聽arrest聽Faeldon聽immediately after receiving the order.
鈥淪o immediately kagabi pa nandun na聽mga tao ko sa mga lugar na pupuntahan nya (Faeldon),鈥� he said.
鈥淣aiinis聽lang ako na sinasabi聽na mahina聽ang intelligence but we were told聽to pull out聽(last night) because Faeldon will go with us聽 this morning,鈥澛� Balajadia added. KGA