Nicanor Faeldon

Faeldon was appointed as Director-General of the Bureau of Corrections in November 2018. He stepped down on 5 September 2019 after being fired by President Rodrigo Duterte amid public outrage over the early release under the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law of thousands of prison convicts, including former Calauan mayor Antonio Sanchez, who had been sentenced to seven life terms in 1999 for the rape and murder of University of the Philippines student Eileen Sarmenta and her friend Allan Gomez.

On May 31, 2016, it was announced that Faeldon will be joining the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte as Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs. He took office on June 30, 2016 succeeding Alberto D. Lina.

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.

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

On November 30, 2007, the website, which had drawn a million hits during Faeldon's escape in 2005, was allegedly dismantled by the government. However, by 10 December the site was back with statements in defense of Faeldon.

In July 2007 he filed a criminal case against Philippine officials who negotiated the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, a bi-lateral trade agreement opposed by citizen's groups who claimed that the said agreement would allow the importation of toxic wastes into the country. In his complaint he states that the negotiators of the treaty compromised Philippine interests in favor of Japan. He again reiterated that he does not intend to run for public office.

He was recaptured on January 27, 2006, in Mandaluyong City, 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.

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 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 City.

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 City. 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.

Faeldon started his military career in June 1989 as a 3rd Class Trainee of the Naval Combat Engineering 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.

Nicanor Escalona Faeldon (Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈfaɪldɔn] ; 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. He served as Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs from June 30, 2016 to August 21, 2017. 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.

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.