NBI task force fails to locate Gringo

The special task force sent by the National Bureau of Investigation to Cebu for a three-day operation to locate and arrest former senator Gregorio Honasan went back to base empty handed.

NBI-STF chief Reynaldo Esmeralda said his group had been closely watching possible areas in Cebu where Honasan could be hiding for the last three days. Their efforts, he said, were however futile because they failed to locate the former senator who is wanted for rebellion charges. Esmeralda said he aborted the operation last Friday.

The areas closely monitored by the NBI-STF included the resorts allegedly owned by Honasan in the southern towns of Boljoon and Alcoy and a mountain barangay in Cebu City.

Esmeralda, however, said the operation to arrest Honasan would go on as he already gave a copy of the former senator's arrest warrant to the regional office of the NBI.

A nationwide manhunt has been launched by the government against Honasan because of a standing arrest warrant issued by the court over coup d' etat charges he is facing in connection with the failed July 27, 2003 Oakwood mutiny. He is said to be one of the planners of the failed mutiny.

Honasan, a former Army colonel who led several failed coup attempts against former president Corazon Aquino in the 1980s, has gone into hiding since being implicated in the supposed left-right-wing conspiracy to topple the Arroyo administration.

His last public appearance was on the last week of February when he, along with original members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, gathered to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the EDSA People Power where his group played a vital role. - Fred P. Languido