Chiong walks out during Duterte speech

CEBU, Philippines —  Despite being axed from the post, former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Chief Nicanor Faeldon still has the president’s support after all.

At the groundbreaking ceremony for the Naga Permanent Housing project, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte spared minutes of his speech to the landslide survivors to talk about the recently fired BuCor chief.

“[Si] Faeldon, tarong na nga tawo,” Duterte said.

This, however, did not sit well with Thelma and Dionisio Chiong, who lost daughters Jacqueline and Marijoy in July 1997 in what was later on ruled as rape-slay involving scions of political and influential families in Cebu.

Both Thelma and Dionisio Chiong arrived early at the venue in the hope of speaking with the president.

Thelma, in a text message to The FREEMAN, said she walked out from the event upon hearing the president praising Faeldon.

Last week, it was reported three convicts of the Chiong sisters’ rape-slay case were released under Faeldon’s time as BuCor chief.

Last week also, news broke out of the President firing Faeldon following the release of 1,914 convicts of heinous crimes in accordance with the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law.

Among them would have been Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez who was convicted for the rape and murder of students of the University of the Philippines.

What finally tipped the President into removing Nicanor from office was his insistence during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing that Sanchez was eligible for release.

This would later spark national public outrage.Despite this, Duterte made it clear in his speech that he still has faith in Faeldon.“I still believe in him,” he said.

Also prior to his appointment as BoC chief, Faeldon served as customs chief where he was also fired upon the discovery of five cylinders of shabu smuggled from China.

Duterte further substantiated his view on Faeldon by recalling how the ex-BoC chief was quick to inform his office of a businessman owning three warehouses worth of cigarettes with illegal stamps.

“If he was quiet and asked for money, he could have made millions.  Because of that report by Faeldon, we earned P37 billion,” he added.

The President was referring to the P30 billion Mighty Corporations paid in settlement of their tax evasion case on top of a P10 billion penalty. — GAN (FREEMAN)