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Lacson sues Faeldon for graft, economic sabotage


Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday filed graft and economic sabotage charges against former Bureau of Customs (BOC) commissioner Nicanor Faeldon before the Office of the Ombudsman over the alleged release of smuggled rice.

Lacson said he is filing two counts for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and one count for violation of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act against Faeldon for allegedly ordering the release of rice shipments consigned to Cebu Lite Trading Inc. (CLTI) worth P34 million in Cagayan de Oro City.

The case stemmed when about 40,000 bags of Vietnamese white rice arrived at the port of Cagayan de Oro in March 2017, all of which did not possess the required documents to allow the importation of the shipment and the need import permits.

"In both rice shipments consigned to CLTI, there was a failure to file the corresponding import entries within the 15-day prescriptive period provided under Section 407 of (Republic Act No.10863), otherwise known as the 'Customs Modernization and Tariff Act,' the 39-page complaint read.

"Further, CLTI did not submit any request for a 15-day extension of the period to file the requisite import entries," it added.

Lacson said Faeldon's actions caused undue injury to the government.

"Dapat kumita na ang gobyerno ng P34 million, 'yun ang equivalent. Eh hindi naman, kasi ni-release yung bigas. Pinayagan ma-release ni Faeldon," he said.

"Yung vileness and hypocrisy ni Faeldon nagmamalinis, hindi niya puwedeng i-claim dito na nawaglit niya. Maaring napirmahan nya yung release. Dahil kinabukasan mismo after pinayagan niyang ma-release eh nag-testify siya sa Senado," the lawmaker said.

Lacson had earlier said he has enough evidence, including documents and sworn affidavits, that will be sufficient to back the charges he filed against Faeldon, who is currently detained at the detention room of the Senate. 

On August 23, Lacson, in a privilege speech, accused Faledon of "promoting" corrupt practices in the Bureau of Customs, adding that the former military officer received a P100-million payoff as a welcome gift shortly after he assumed the post in 2016.

Lacson had also questioned Faeldon's issuance of special stop orders on shipments that were already approved to pass through the green lane during the Senate's hearing on the "tara" (bribery) system in the BOC.

Faeldon, on the other hand, filed an ethics complaint against Lacson, for dragging him into the corruption mess hounding the BOC. 

The lawmaker said the complaint he filed is his way of accepting the challenge of Faeldon, who urged Lacson to sue him for the truth to come out.

"Lahat ng paghahamon niya ito na ang katugunan. I will not take it sitting down. Hindi ito in retaliation sa kanyang mga ginagawa," Lacson said.

Meanwhile, Lacson said National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Jason Aquino was also among the respondents in the case for releasing fraudulent import permits.

"Siya yung belatedly nag-issue ng fraudulent na import permit nung kailangan," Lacson said on Aquino.

Eight other BOC and NFA officials are also included in the case.

Lacson said Faeldon can expect more cases from him particularly over the alleged rice smuggling in Batangas province and the so-called "pasalubong system" in the BOC.

Meanwhile, Faeldon's legal counsel and spokesperson Jose Diño said in a statement that Lacson still has "zero evidence" against the former Customs commissioner.

Faeldon's comment

In a statement, Faeldon expressed confidence that the complaint will be dismissed.

"If Senator Lacson truly believes in his own propaganda, will he commit to the Filipino people to resign as a senator of the Republic, in the highly-expected event that his B.S. complaint is dismissed either by the Ombudsman or the Sandiganbayan? We thought so too," Faeldon said.

"Enough of your self-confessed obsession against me. Sinasayang mo ang buwis ng sambayanan for your personal and ill-motives," Faeldon said.

"If your garbage complaint is not dismissed outright by the Ombudsman for utter lack of merit, I will squarely address your fake allegations with facts and evidence. Truth is justice!," he added.

Lacson had also questioned Faeldon's issuance of special stop orders on shipments that were already approved to pass through the green lane during the Senate's hearing on the "tara" system at the BOC. —KG/KVD/RSJ/KBK, GMA News

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