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Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Wednesday played down the
resurfacing of fugitive Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon in a four-part
video that can be accessed through a popular website. Faeldon is one
of the core leaders of the short-lived Oakwood mutiny.
As far as Teodoro is concerned, Faeldon does not
have credibility among officers and men of the Armed Forces.
“You know if a person is on the run, afoul of
the law, you know he’ll use asymmetric means to protect
himself,” Teodoro said in an interview.
Faeldon, who suddenly disappeared after taking
part in the so-called siege of the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati
City on November 29 last year, came out in a video over YouTube
posted by one person identifying himself as Yuka2888.
In the four-part video, Faeldon talked about
various issues, including his renewed call for a national unity and
consciousness, how the EDSA People Power I revolt in February 1986
failed to bring about economic and political maturity.
Asked to comment about the video, Teodoro said:
“We do not want to glorify Faeldon by reacting to his
propaganda.”
“What we know is that he is a fugitive with a
P1-million bounty for his capture. Sooner or later, the long arm of
the law will catch up with him,” the Defense chief pointed out.
Also in the video, Faeldon reiterated his
position that he would never accept a pardon from President Gloria
Arroyo, as he maintained to be critic of the Arroyo administration
which he claimed to be “illegal.”
It was earlier this month when Mrs. Arroyo gave
a pardon to nine Oakwood mutineers. Two of the nine—Capts. Garardo
Gambala and Milo Maestrecampo—are Faeldon’s fellow leaders in
the Magdalò Group.
Faeldon first escaped in December 2005 but was
arrested by intelligence agents in Malabon a month later. Teodoro
refused to give details on the ongoing efforts to arrest Faeldon.
-- Maricel V. Cruz
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