Former Customs commissioner Nicolas Faeldon wants to move his complaint against Senator Panfilo Lacson from the Senate ethics committee to the Senate Committee of the Whole.
Faeldon said “the transfer is not only the most appropriate but in fact necessary under the circumstances to prevent an impending miscarriage of justice.”
He noted that the “holding in abeyance” of his complaint to coerce him to appear at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing into the P6.4-billion shipment of shabu that slipped past the Bureau of Customs under his watch, was contrary to the provisions of the Senate Ethics committee.
Ethics committee chairperson Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto said they had decided to hold in abeyance Faeldon’s complaint as he continously failed to recognize the jurisdiction of the Senate.
After attending the first hearing, Faeldon snubbed the Blue Ribbon’s succeeding summons to appear in the hearing, and opted to be jailed at the Senate detention facility on contempt charges.
Because of this, Faeldon said holding his complaint in abeyance is not only unprocedural but also illegal.
“The complainant filed the instant complaint, using as sole guide the four corners of the Rules of this Commitee, and no other. Changing the Rules, at its whim, in the middle of the ball game, so to speak, smacks of this Committee’s uneven and an evil eye, against herein complainant and in favor of the respondent,” said Faeldon.
He added that the committee also imposed other conditions, such as coercing the complainant to “kiss the hand” of the respondent (Lacson) first, before the complaint is heard by the committee.
“Who or what will now stop this committee, from also coercing the complainant “To execute a signed confession” first, before his complaint is heard by the committee?” asked Faeldon.
In his 12-page complaint, Faeldon also strongly criticized Sotto for his mimicking almost-verbatim the earlier legal opinion of his fellow non-lawyer.
While Sotto has vowed to he impartial with his complaint, Faeldon said he sang an entirely different tune a week later.
“Sad to say and with all due respect, he almost sounded like a legal counsel for the respondent, the legal arguments of whom he merely parroted, ending up with a conclusion that –”So, in the present complaint I think, the way to go is to dismiss and not to hold in abeyance.”
Faeldon said that in his ethics complaint against Lacson, he had prayed that the ethics committee “shun aside party lines, petty affiliations, the old boys’s club and the deep, long-standing and personal friendships, and “then right is right and then wrong is wrong.
“What they said that they will be fair was much different from their actions based on the transcript and video footages in a meeting last September 24 when he was not invited even in an observer status,” said Faeldon.
The ethics complaint stemmed from a privilege speech of Lacson wherein he accused Faeldon of being embroiled in massive corruption at the Bureau of Customs. Lacson said the the former Customs chief got P100 million as a “welcome gift” when he assumed his post at the BOC on top of the “tara” to facilitate the release of shipments.
