Senators hit DOJ resolution clearing Faeldon

MANILA, Philippines — Senators slammed the Department of Justice for clearing ex-Customs chief Nicanor Faeldon of drug charges over the P6.4-billion shabu shipment that slipped through the Bureau of Customs.

On Wednesday, the DOJ released a copy of the charge sheet where several traders and Customs broker Mark Taguba were indicted on drug trading raps. Faeldon's name, however, was missing from the charge sheet.

The Senate likewise conducted an extensive hearings on the issue that went on for nine sessions. 

A copy of the resolution has yet to be released to the media. But the DOJ said in a statement that the complainant, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, "failed to state with clarity the acts or omission supposedly committed" by Faeldon.

READ: DOJ summons Faeldon over P6.4-B smuggled shabu

Poor people are killed, but allies are absolved

Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, in his official Twitter account, challenged the primary campaign of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte that vowed to ruthlessly rid the country of drugs.

Pangilinan said: "I thought this administration hate drugs. Ordinary citizens with small amount of drugs get killed. When we're talking about tons of shabu, you let them pass. This drug war is fake."

"This is a farce! When you're friends, you let them pass. When you view them as your critics, you push them to the wall. These people must have a pull on the government," Pangilinan said in Filipino.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, for his part, echoed Pangilinan's contention of a favor seemingly given to those who are "allies" of Duterte.

"The question now is, who is responsible for the entry of the P6.4 billion shabu? The Customs security guard? Mr. Duterte, you are fooling the nation," Trillanes added.

READ: DOJ wraps up probe on P6.4B smuggled shabu case

Complicity from staff?

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chair of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, noted that shipment would not have entered the country "without the participation and complicity" of BOC staff.

"Simple logic will tell us that, at the very least, those under whose watch the drug shipment passed through should be held criminally liable as well," Lacson, among those who led the Senate inquiry, said.

Sen. Bam Aquino, meanwhile, called out the "peculiar" resolution issued by the DOJ. He recalled that during the Senate hearings, it was stressed that drugs cannot just slipped through the country without help from inside the BOC.

"Where it entered the country because they are conniving, or because of they were blinded by money, whatever the case, they should be liable for the shabu shipment," Aquino said.

The senator stressed that the draft report of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, headed by Sen. Richard Gordon, recommended that cases should be filed against Customs officials, led by former commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.

The case stemmed from the raid led by the operatives of the BOC, PDEA and the National Bureau of Investigation at a warehouse in Valenzuela City. Seized in the operation are 604 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.

The shipment was declared as kitchenware, footwear and moldings, as it slipped through the BOC.

The DOJ said in a statement that, following its earlier department order, the dismissal of complaints against Faeldon and several others "shall be subject to automatic review by the Secretary of Justice."