MANILA, Philippines – Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Tuesday urged resigned Bureau of Customs (BOC) chief Nicanor Faeldon to keep his promise that he would make his cash assets public by signing a bank secrecy waiver to prove that he wasn’t engaged in corruption.
The lawmaker, who earlier accused the former Customs commissioner of receiving a P100-million “welcome gift” when he started his stint at the BOC and regular huge bribes from smugglers, said Faeldon would further bolster his claim of being upright, if would be able to include the waivers “of the members of his family” and his “fiancée” on their bank deposits and assign Lacson to inquire about the accounts.
“(He said he was) willing to open (his) bank accounts, including those of the members of (his) family. But that’s just words. To formalize it, kung talagang [if he is really] serious, mas maganda magpirma siya ng [it would be better if he would sign a] waiver under (Republic Act) 1405, Bank Secrecy Act,” Lacson told reporters on Tuesday, August 29.
“‘Yan formal ‘yan [That’s formal]. And he will allow the authorities or anybody na ina-assign niya [whom he will assign to] to inquire into the bank deposits,” the senator said.
“I’d be glad if kung ako ma-assign niya [if he would assign me] to inquire into the bank deposits,” he added.
The senator recalled that he did the same thing in 2002 when he authorized Victor Corpus to look into his bank deposits after the then Armed Forces intelligence chief accused him of corruption.
“I think I’m the only one so far na nagpirma ng [who signed a] waiver. Pinadala ko kay [I sent it to] Corpus…Remember, sabi niya [he said] I stashed hundreds of millions of dollars,” Lacson said.
“He refused to sign, sabi niya [he said], for a tenuous reason na hindi z ang Corpus niya kundi s [that his Corpus is not z but s]. Alam natin [We know] he could have easily changed the z to s and signed it, but he refused. Anyway that’s water under the bridge because he apologized naman [already] that he was taken for a ride,” the legislator added.
Lacson said that if he sees nothing questionable about the bank deposits of Faeldon and his family, he would apologize to the former BOC chief.
“And kung talagang wala [if there’s really nothing], I’ll be gentleman enough to apologize. Or maybe I committed a mistake,” he said.
In his December 31, 2016 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, Faeldon, a former Marine officer, declared that he had only a total savings/cash on hand of P120,000.
His total declared net worth was P3.275 million, which included his savings, a house and lot in Brgy. Dolores, Taytay, Rizal that he acquired for P375,000; three agricultural lots in Puerto Princesa, Palawan worth P295,000; and his back wages from the Armed Forces of the Philippines worth P1.8 million.