Trillanes says info shows fellow ex-mutineer Faeldon at ‘heart’ of BOC mess

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday said Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon should stop “malingering” and face the separate investigations of the Senate and House of Representatives on the P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China.

In a statement, Trillanes said he has “enough information to say that he (Faeldon) is at the heart of this controversy.”

Trillanes said this as he vouched for Deputy Commissioner Gerardo Gambala and Import Assessment Service (IAS) Director Milo Maestrecampo, who were also questioned by both houses of Congress on the shabu shipment. 

“I would like to affirm the statements of Commissioner Faeldon, DepCom Gerry Gambala and Dir. Milo Maestrecampo that they are not part of the Magdalo Group,” Trillanes said.

“However, having known well enough my PMA classmates, Gerry Gambala and Milo Maestrecampo, I am almost certain that they are not part of the syndicate that facilitated the release of this six-billion peso shabu shipment,” he said.

Last week, Faeldon, Gambala, and Maestecampo all denied that they were part of the Magdalo group.

Faeldon said that while he participated in the infamous Oakwood Mutiny in 2003 and the Manila Peninsula Siege in 2007, he was never part of the Magdalo. Trillanes was part of both mutinies.

Faeldon skipped this week’s Senate and House hearings on the shabu shipment, first citing a dental procedure, then chest pains.

On Thursday morning, the House medical team and sergeant-at-arms visited Faeldon at a hospital in Taytay, Rizal.

Dr. Arthur Bayani said Faeldon was just going to have his dentures done but eventually experienced a heart attack.

In May last year, Faeldon, a former Marine captain, joined then presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte in a media forum in Manila where he reiterated Duterte's call for him to explain his frequent travels to Beijing before Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal was controlled by the Chinese in 2012.

Faeldon, moreover, alleged that Trillanes had received money from Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, a claim that the lawmaker denied.

Faeldon made his pronouncements on the heels of Trillanes' accusations that Duterte maintains a bank account with P2.4 billion sourced from illegal activities. — MDM, GMA News