Senator JV Ejercito on Thursday said that while he respected President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to appoint resigned-Bureau of Customs (BOC) chief Nicanor Faeldon as a defense official, he would rather that presidential appointees have a clean record.

“It’s the prerogative of the President to appoint who he has trust and confidence,” Ejercito said in a text message to the media.

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“But personally I would rather that appointees or those who intend to run for public office does not have any derogatory record or blemish in their track record because they are entering public service,” he said.

“Public service is a public trust,” said Ejercito whose father, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, was convicted of plunder in September 2007 but was pardoned a month later by then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Duterte recently appointed Faeldon as deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense of the Department of National Defense (DND).

This was despite Faeldon being involved in a controversy when a P6.4-billion shabu shipment slipped through the BOC during his leadership.

Faeldon is detained at the Senate after he was cited in contempt for deliberately skipping the hearings on the BOC mess. /cbb

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