Rodrigo Duterte finally fires favourite official Nicanor Faeldon after release of drug offenders

Nicanor Faeldon, director of the Bureau of Corrections, had attracted controversy by releasing 816 convicts in a nine-month span

While these include four Chinese drug traffickers, it took some time for the president to respond to the actions of his ally

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Senator Lawrence “Bong” Go, President Rodrigo Duterte, and Bureau of Corrections chief Nicanor Faeldon at the baptism of Faeldon’s son. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:34pm, 4 Sep 2019Updated: 11:18am, 5 Sep 2019

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday finally wielded the axe on Nicanor Faeldon, director of the Philippines’ Bureau of Corrections and a former rebel who became his staunch ally.

“I am demanding the resignation of Faeldon immediately,” Duterte told reporters. “Faeldon has to go because Faeldon disobeyed my order,” he said, though he fell short of explaining what order he had disobeyed.

The last two weeks have seen the former marine mutineer in hot water over his controversial release of 816 convicts serving life sentences. In the span of nine months as chief of the bureau, known as Bucor, Faeldon has released four Chinese drug traffickers, 44 others convicted of drug-related crimes, and three rapist-murderers, according to Congressman Jericho Nograles.

On August 20, Faeldon ordered the release of rapist-murderer Antonio Sanchez, the former mayor of Calauan municipality, but suspended this 30 minutes later due to a media leak.

Faeldon told reporters he planned to release 11,000 inmates under the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) programme, which allows prisoners to reduce their sentences through good behaviour.

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Faeldon’s six predecessors in the role had released a total of just 1,098 prisoners since 2014, when a law increasing sentence reductions through the GCTA programme took effect.