Nicanor Faeldon

Nicanor Escalona Faeldon (born July 29, 1965) is a Filipino former Marine who served as the Director-General of the Bureau of Corrections under the Duterte administration from November 21, 2018, until he was fired in September 2019.

Faeldon was born in Batanes province on July 29, 1965.

He graduated from the National University in Manila with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in political science.

At National University he became a member of the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity.

Faeldon started his military career in June 1989 as a 3rd Class Trainee of the Naval Combat Engineer Brigade (formerly Naval Construction Brigade or Seabees).

He was called to active duty (CAD) as a commissioned officer in the Philippine Marine Corps in 1992.

Since then he has been awarded a Gold Cross Medal, three Military Merit Medals (MMM), five Military Commendation Medals (MCM), a Wounded Personnel Medal, and Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao campaign medals.

He was a captain in the Philippine Marines who gained national and international attention when he participated as one of the alleged leaders of the incident known as the Oakwood mutiny in 2003.

On July 27, 2003, a group of 321 men of various branches of the Philippine military took control of the Oakwood serviced apartments in Makati.

Led by Captains Gerardo Gambala, Milo Maestrecampo, Nicanor Faeldon and Lt(sg) Antonio Trillanes IV, they denounced corruption and politicization in the military, alleging, among others, that military officials had been selling arms and ammunition to insurgents and that the government had no intention of resolving existing armed conflicts to allow the corrupt practices to continue.

After government negotiators promised to prosecute only the leaders of the alleged mutiny, the incident ended without bloodshed eighteen hours later.

However, despite the terms of surrender, all participants, including enlisted men, were taken into custody and charged.

He stated that he knew that such actions would bear no benefit for himself, that he would never run for public office, while noting that the events since 2003 have proven him right.

Shortly after his escape, four others of his co-accused, led by Army 1Lt.

Lawrence San Juan also escaped from their detention in Fort Bonifacio, Makati.

While outside, Cpt.

Faeldon called for civil disobedience and set up an organization, Pilipino.org.

His website, www.pilipino.org.ph, received over a million hits in the days following his escape.

He also had himself videotaped and photographed inside various military camps throughout the Philippines posting the videos and pictures on his website, saying that:

"Unless those corrupt generals man the gates themselves, no one can stop me from going in and out of these camps. The enlisted men and officers of the military and the police who remain loyal to the people will not turn me in."

On December 14, 2005, Cpt.

Faeldon escaped from custody and heavy guard after attending a hearing on the coup d'état case filed against him and twenty-nine others accused.

He later issued a statement saying that after keeping his silence for over two years, he was leaving to "join the fight for a credible government."

He was recaptured on January 27, 2006, in Mandaluyong, with Cpt.

Candelaria Rivas (JAGS), a military lawyer with the Judge Advocate General's Office, who was prosecuting his and the other alleged mutineers' court martial case.

He was placed in solitary confinement in the detention center of the Intelligence Service Armed Forces of the Philippines, in Camp Aguinaldo.

His salary was also suspended indefinitely.

Thereafter, he was transferred to the Philippine Marine Brig in Fort Bonifacio where he remained incarcerated until the November 29, 2007 incident.

After several of his co-accused pleaded guilty to the offense of violation of Articles of War 97 or conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, Cpt.

Faeldon released a statement explaining why he in turn would not plea bargain to any of the offenses he was charged with in connection with the alleged mutiny and that he was continuing |continuing the fight they began at Oakwood.

In the said statement, he declared that he respects the decision of his co-accused to plead guilty but that he was asserting that nothing had changed since he and his co-accused took over Oakwood four years earlier.

He cited rampant corruption and increasing politization in the military.

He stated that a plea bargain would be a ratification of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's doubtful legitimacy.

He also indicated that when he went to Oakwood he was well aware that his career or his life could have ended there.

He closes his statement by saying:

"If this refusal to bargain means a prison term or the loss of my life, I am prepared, now, as much as I was four years ago, to pay the price for telling the truth."

The Manila Peninsula incident occurred on November 29, 2007, at The Peninsula Manila (colloquially, Manila Peninsula Hotel), Makati, Philippines.

Detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Brigadier General Danilo D. Lim, and 25 other Magdalo officers walked out of their trial and marched through the streets of Makati, called for the ousting of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and seized the second floor of the Manila Peninsula Hotel along Ayala Avenue.

Former Vice-President Teofisto Guingona, Jr. also joined the march to the hotel, as well as some of the soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

He served as Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs from June 30, 2016, to August 21, 2017.