Palace: Faeldon can perform his duties as OCD exec even in jail

Former Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon and now Office of Civil Defense deputy administrator can work wherever he is, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

“He’s appointed to OCD which is a policy-making body, noh. So our position is he can perform his task wherever he may be… Even in jail,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said at a briefing in Marawi City.

Earlier in the day, Faeldon was transferred from his detention at the Senate building to Pasay City Jail for his "sordid conduct" at the blue ribbon committee hearing on the alleged corruption at his former agency.

Roque maintained that Malacañang would not intervene in the Senate’s decision.

“We have never intervened in the legislative process. I don’t think the President will begin now,” he said.

On Monday, Senator Gordon admitted that presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo had requested that Faeldon be released from Senate detention.

“Sabi niya [Panelo] ‘mabait naman yan, palabasin niyo na yan.’ Sabi ko, ‘kung mabait yan, palabasin ko yan. Kung hindi siya mabait, sorry’,” Gordon said.

But Panelo denied asking for Faeldon’s release.

“No. What I told him [Gordon] is that I advised Faeldon to attend the hearing if he is subpoenaed and answer the questions of the Senate committee so that he can be released and start with his new appointment,” Panelo said in a text message to reporters.

“He may have misunderstood me,” he added.

Faeldon was detained at the Senate in September last year after he was cited in contempt for his refusal to participate in the hearing. — RSJ, GMA News