Faeldon in military hands? Lawyer mulls habeas plea

The lawyer of Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, who supposedly escaped after last Thursday’s siege at the Manila Peninsula Hotel, blasted the government for raising a P1-million reward for the arrest of his client and tagging him “armed and dangerous." Trixie Angeles maintained that Faeldon, one of the six core leaders of the short-lived Oakwood mutiny in July 2003, could be in the hands the military officers all along and officers are keeping the information on his whereabouts. “They put bounty on the Abu Sayyaf and that is justifiable. Putting a bounty on Captain Faeldon who has not killed anybody and who did not display any acts of violence. This is foolishness," said Angeles. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo put up the reward on the recommendation of PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. The reward was for people who can provide information that would lead to the early arrest of Faeldon. Angeles said Razon was irresponsible for initiating the offer of the bounty and for describing Faeldon as “armed and dangerous." Faeldon was previously assigned with the Force Recon, an elite unit of the Marines. Told that it was the President who approved the bounty, Angeles said: “But Razon says that they will assume that he is armed and dangerous. That is highly irresponsible. They have no evidence to that effect…Why are they saying he’s armed and dangerous? Are they setting the stage for shooting him later on." Angeles has said that the last information she got from Faeldon was that he was returning to his detention at the Marine Brig inside the Marine headquarters in Fort Bonifacio when the incident at the hotel was already over. She has said that she was not dismissing the possibility that Faeldon, who is facing a charge of coup d etat before the Makati City regional trial court and facing court martial, was in the custody of the military. “There is no evidence to confirm either way, whether he has escaped or he is in their custody…He is missing under these conditions. The hotel was surrounded by troops. There were soldiers and police officers surrounding the hotel," she said. Angeles also sought to contradict pronouncements by Razon that Faeldon is armed and dangerous, saying the last time he was seen by media showed that he was unarmed and he was merely on battle dress attire. She scored the PNP and the AFP for saying Faeldon escaped without conducting any formal investigation, call his family if he got in touch with them “and they have not bothered to ask me." “There is no evidence either way. No evidence that it was an escape. No evidence of anything. So they shouldn’t be taking any conclusion or much less offering a bounty of P1 million. What if he got hurt and somebody took him in?" she asked. Angeles said she may file a habeas corpus case against the military if she or if Faeldon’s family does not get a word from Faeldon in the coming weeks. “If we don’t hear from him in so many weeks, then we will have no recourse," she said. Angeles also noted the shutting down of Faeldon’s Web site. She suspects that the government was behind the dismantling of the site. On the Web site, Faeldon posted pictures of his visit to several military camps when he escaped from military custody in December 2005. He was recaptured over a month later in the company of military lawyer, Capt. Candy Rivas, in Malabon. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said the Philippine Army has lent assistance in the search for Faeldon. A team from the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group is leading the search for the officer. - GMANews.TV