Drilon says no proof linking Faeldon to ‘GCTA for sale’ mess but slams axed BuCor chief’s incompetence

There may be no proof yet linking former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Nicanor Faeldon to reports of good conduct time allowance (GCTA) being sold to prisoner, but Senator Franklin Drilon still slammed the fired official for failing to stop the alleged scheme.

"There is no statement that implicates Faeldon as part of the group that would sell availment of the Good Conduct Time Allowance law," Drilon said during the weekly news forum at Annabel's restaurant in Quezon City.

"But you cannot avoid the thought there was incompetence for failure to catch this kind of scenario. Nagkulang siya sa kanyang pamumuno at pamamahala doon sa BuCor pero walang ebidensiya na siya po ay kasama doon sa [GCTA for sale]," the senator said.

Facing the Senate blue ribbon committee, Yolanda Camelon narrated her dealings with BuCor officials to adjust the GCTA record of her husband and reduce his prison sentence leading to his release.

GCTA, which is covered by Republic Act 10592, allows for reduction of sentence of persons deprived of liberty (PDL), depending on how well they abide by the rules inside the penal institutions.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said he still believes in Faeldon even after firing him over the early release of heinous crimes convicts.

“Faeldon tarong na nga tawo [He is an upright person]. I still believe in him,” Duterte said in a mix of Cebuano and English during the groundbreaking ceremony for a housing project in Naga City, Cebu.

Duterte's praise for Faeldon raised speculations that the President might re-appoint the embattled ex-prisons chief to another  government post.

"Sana 'wag na," Drilon said, noting of the controversies in the agencies lead by Faeldon such as the slipping of P6.4-billion worh of shabu from China when he was Customs commissioner as well as the GCTA scandal in the BuCor.

Before becoming BuCor chief, Faeldon headed the Bureau of Customs but later resigned amid the P6.8-billion shabu shipment mess. He was then transferred to the Office of Civil Defense as its deputy administrator, before joining the BuCor. — MDM, GMA News