AFP belittles Faeldon's threat of poll-related uprising

As far as the Armed Forces is concerned, Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, a fugitive officer facing mutiny charges who recently warned of a military-backed uprising in case of cheating in the May 10 elections, is a nobody. “First of all, who is Faeldon? He has no authority or credibility to speak for the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He has no men so we are just ignoring him," said Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos on Sunday. Faeldon, in an interview with ABS-CBN last Friday, said the Arroyo administration could be cooking up a plot to sabotage the elections—the first ever nationwide automated elections in the country—to prolong President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s reign. He warned that a military faction would join the uprising that may arise in case there will be massive cheating in the upcoming elections. Burgos denied that there’s a government plot to rig the elections. He advised Faeldon, who escaped from military custody in November 2007, to just turn himself in and face the charges slapped against him. Faeldon is facing trial before civilian and military courts for allegedly participating in two attempts to overthrow the Arroyo administration, one in July 2003 and then in November 2007. The government has offered a P1 million bounty for Faeldon’s arrest. “There is no truth to that claim because we are not seeing such a scenario," said Burgos, referring to Faeldon’s claim that soldiers will join an uprising should there be cheating of the results of the elections. Burgos said “everything is set" for the elections as far as military preparations are concerned. The military has placed all its troops on red alert—the highest in its three-tiered alert level scheme—last Friday morning. - KBK, GMANews.TV