Gordon dismisses Faeldon’s ‘inhumane treatment’ claims

FILE: Senator Ricard “Dick” Gordon (Photo: Senate of the Philippines/Facebook)

Blue Ribbon Committee Chair Richard Gordon, answered all of detained former Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon’s claims of “inhumane treatment.”

“I have always tried to be fair with him… All he has to do is appear before the committee and respect the committee,” Gordon said through a text message to GMA News Online.

According to Faeldon, Gordon denied his request to take his oath of office before Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana after being appointed as deputy administrator in the Office of Civil Defense (OCD). He was also denied of being examined by his cardiologist due to his heart ailment.

The Senator also denied his personal requests like spending his Christmas and New Year with his loved ones, attending to his religious practices, and being present at his youngest child’s birth.

(Read: Faeldon slams Gordon for ‘cruel, degrading, inhumane’ treatment)

One by one, Gordon addressed the instances of “cruel, degrading, and inhuman punishment” that Faeldon listed in his statement on Thursday.

According to Gordon, Faeldon asked permission to go to DND “without being accompanied” by members of the Office of the Sergeant at Arms (OSAA).

“That request was not granted because: one, his release without the company of the OSAA would have meant that he was being released from custody, without his having cleansed himself of his contumacious conduct, the very reason why he is detained,” Gordon explained.

Faeldon requested for his oath-taking before the DND for a second time.

“Consistent with the previous denial of his request, we informed him that the safety concerns still remained, that with the previous threats that were made against him,” Gordon told GMA News Online.

Adding that Faeldon is now appointed to a higher position in the Executive branch, he said, “If he is allowed to go out and take his oath, nothing can prevent him from hiding behind his appointment and then saying, ‘you cannot detain me anymore as I am not Assistant Secretary.’”

In addition, Faeldon requested to be examined by a cardiologist so he could attend to his religious practice of being in the Black Nazarene’s Traslacion on January 9 – which was denied by Gordon because it “would have exposed him to danger” not only for his heart ailment but that the OSAA “would not be able to guarantee his safety with the hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million of people attending.”

He was instead advised to attend masses held at the Senate building.

For his personal request of being with his family for the holidays, Gordon said that it was not granted because Faeldon is held for contempt.

“The citation for contempt was, and still is, a collegial act which the Chair, on his own, cannot reverse,” Gordon said in the text message.