The contrast between the cases presently wringing Nicanor Faeldon and Harold Clavite is so glaring that pressure is now on Malacañang to decide on Faeldon like it did with seeming haste on Clavite.

He was the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) director-general before he was fired by President Rodrigo Duterte at the end of the previous month.

His name was not on the public radar, though.

It was only after his supposed resignation was accepted by President Rodrigo Duterte that Clavite became big news.

But his was not as big that of Faeldon, who has hogged the limelight again for all the wrong reasons.

Clavite claimed to have received a letter from Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea confirming the President’s acceptance of his resignation.

Only that there is no such letter. He claimed he did not resign. He made his intention to quit very public, though.

Before his sacking, Clavite was the subject of a probe greenlighted by Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar.

The investigation looked at Clavite’s alleged involvement in splitting a project to favor contractors who also did not complete their signed tasks.

Clavite was also probed for the PIA’s payment of a 12-day single hotel room occupancy for a supposed inter-agency meeting.

The sacked PIA chief, however, is sure to go.

He could no longer contest his banishment from government service. What Medialdea says binds like the word of the President.

His sacking, however, took the backseat to Faeldon’s case.

His name was so miniscule compared to Faeldon’s — a former putschist, Bureau of Customs (BoC) Commissioner and had a short stint at the Office of Civil Defense before he was appointed as Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief, succeeding now Sen. Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa.

Faeldon does not need further introduction. Mention of his name pretty sums what controversy means in public service.

But unlike Clavite, calls for Faeldon’s resignation or sacking reverberate in government and outside of it. He has lost credibility.

For one, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III expressed hopes President Duterte will step in and settle all questions now surrounding Faeldon over his questionable release of convicts, many of whom have committed heinous crimes, including rape and murder and the distribution of illegal drugs.

Then there was the president’s daughter Sara Duterte, the Davao City mayor, who added her voice to the calls for Faeldon’s ouster as BuCor chief.

Sotto wants a revamp of the BuCor, too. And it is not because of the aborted release of rape-slay and murder convict Antonio Sanchez, the former Calauan, Laguna mayor, but the number of other release orders Faeldon signed that included convicts of heinous crimes, counting drug distribution.

This is also where Sen. Panfilo Lacson is digging in. He saw the anomalous process of granting freedom even to heinous crime convicts in direct overlap or disregard of the presidential power to pardon.

It is only the President of the Republic who wields that power.

During yesterday’s hearing, however, it turned out that even a mere Davao penal superintendent could set prisoners free in disregard of the law on the grant of pardon.

Faeldon also admitted to setting free the rapists and killers of the Chiong sisters of Cebu. And yet another striking discrepancy discovered in that order by Lacson was that Faeldon recognized the paper signed by a mere underling on his behalf.

Faeldon would find it hard to wring himself out of that anomaly. The gravity of the offenses is so great, he could start counting his days as a government servant.

It is not the first time that Faeldon has figured in a controversy that necessitated a Senate investigation.

Some P6.4 billion shabu shipment from China slipped past the Port of Manila in May 2017 when he was still the BoC chief. He was later exonerated by the Department of Justice, but he had a tough time answering questions from the senators and, at one time, was held in contempt for seemingly blocking the lawmakers’ efforts to squeeze information from him.

It is ironic, however, that Chinese drug convicts have also been freed under the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) Law and by Faeldon, himself.

There were 1,914 prisoners who served shorter jail time through the GCTA. But this number was comprised of convicts found guilty of heinous crimes.

They could not be rearrested, not a few lawyers say. So, consider the Chiong rape-slay convicts and the Chinese drug lords as free men.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez is sure about this. He said no judge will issue another warrant for their arrest and for what crime?

He also questioned the “secrecy” of their release. It was only when the media discovered Sanchez’s supposed qualification for freedom that the public raised a big howl over the GCTA Law and against the BuCor.

Money had changed hands, Rodriguez said.

There is no reason for the public not to believe the lawmaker’s statement.