MANILA, Aug. 10 — Sen. Antonio Trillanes on Thursday called on Bureau of Customs chief Nicanor Faeldon to show up in the investigations involving the smuggling of PHP 6.4 billion worth of shabu from China or risk being cited for contempt.
“I hope he gets the courage to face congress and senators during the next hearings,” Trillanes told reporters in an interview.
Faeldon was absent during the second Senate hearing on the illegal shipment on Wednesday (August 9).
In a letter to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Senator Richard Gordon, Faeldon said he was diagnosed with “non-ST elevation myocardial infarction acute coronary syndrome; hypertension urgency hypertension stage II.”
He said that he was eventually confined at the Manila East Medical Center until Tuesday (August 8).
Trillanes, however, raised suspicions over Faeldon’s medical condition, saying that his confinement was “too timely”
“Isn’t it a bit too timely that you would have your dental treatment on the first hearing and suddenly, a heart ailment on your second hearing?” Trillanes said.
The BOC is facing controversy after allowing the illegal shipment of 600 kilograms worth of shabu to be delivered in a Valenzuela warehouse.
He warned that the customs chief may be cited with contempt unless Faeldon immediately shows his medical records as proof of his heart ailments.
The senator said the customs chief, who escaped with Trillanes from prison in 1998, should be held responsible for the controversy.