CakePHP 3.1.6 - Time::_formatObject throws exception "calling ->format on a null" on what should be valid data

I've modified the Time::_formatObject function allow some debug info (beginning at line 617) as follows:

debug($date);
debug($format);
debug($locale);
debug($dateFormat);
debug($timeFormat);
debug($timezone);
debug($calendar);
debug($pattern);

            static::$_formatters[$key] = datefmt_create(
                $locale,
                $dateFormat,
                $timeFormat,
                $timezone,
                $calendar,
                $pattern
            );
        }
debug($_formatters[$key]);
die();
        return static::$_formatters[$key]->format($date);

The output:

\src\I18n\Time.php (line 617)

object(Cake\I18n\Time) {    	'time' => '2016-01-05T17:25:10-0700',  	'timezone' => 'America/Denver',  	'fixedNowTime' => false    }  

\src\I18n\Time.php (line 618)

[  	(int) 0 => 'yyyyMMdd',  	(int) 1 => (int) -1  ]  

\src\I18n\Time.php (line 619)

'en_US'  

\src\I18n\Time.php (line 620)

'yyyyMMdd'  

\src\I18n\Time.php (line 621)

(int) -1  

\src\I18n\Time.php (line 622)

'America/Denver'  

\src\I18n\Time.php (line 623)

(int) 1  

\src\I18n\Time.php (line 624)

null  

Warning (2): datefmt_create() expects parameter 2 to be long, string given [CORE\src\I18n\Time.php, line 633]

Notice (8): Undefined variable: _formatters [CORE\src\I18n\Time.php, line 635]

\src\I18n\Time.php (line 635)

null  

I really don't understand why the format() routine wants a long value... It could be a string with hh:ss   etc... 
However, I happend to use \IntlDateFormatter::NONE for the timeFormat.

The error manifests due the return statement trying to execute ->format on a null pointer.

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