Love led to Faeldon’s fall

Disguised as a woman, renegade Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon was arrested in Malabon late Friday by military intelligence agents who were helped by the scent of his woman.

Faeldon realized — too late — that his girlfriend, Capt. Candelaria Rivas, a military prosecutor with The Judge Advocate General (TJAG) office of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), was being tailed by military agents, which ultimately led to his arrest.

Agents of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippine (ISAFP) said they turned to tracking Rivas as the best opportunity for recapturing the elusive Marine officer who had taunted authorities during his 44 days on the run.

One of the ISAFP agents said they learned that Faeldon and Rivas had been lovers — an affair that began with a simple glance while the renegade officer was attending one of his trial hearings inside the courtroom in Makati City over the failed Oakwood mutiny in July 2003.

"Nag umpisa lang yan sa patingin-tingin, tapos nauwi sa kaunting kuwentuhan (It started as a casual glance then casual talk before it developed into a love affair)," one of the officers who had been monitoring the romance said.

Were it not for Rivas, Faeldon might still have remained a fugitive and a threat to national security, the ISAFP officer said.

"The ISAFP was having a hard time in tracking his (Faeldon’s) location, forcing the unit to combine human and technical intelligence in order to get him," an intelligence officer said.

The official said short conversations between the two officers led to a series of visits by Rivas to Faeldon at the ISAFP compound at Camp Aguinaldo where the Marine captain was detained with five other core leaders of the Oakwood mutiny.

The series of visits turned into badminton games and the pair became almost inseparable whenever they would see each other inside the ISAFP compound, he said.

Faeldon reciprocated Rivas’ visits to him at ISAFP by asking, once in a while, for a pass from his military custodians.

"When Faeldon was still in detention at ISAFP, every time he requested a pass, he spent the night with Rivas. The visits were recorded in the ISAFP journal as entered by Faeldon’s security detail," an official said.

One of Faeldon’s security details, Maj. Leo Batan, was also a witness to the relationship. Batan was relieved as commander of the ISAFP’s Intelligence Group (MIG-23) following the renegade officer’s escape last December.

"They became inseparable and because of this, the ISAFP, while doubting that Rivas, being one of the prosecution lawyers, would coddle Faeldon, deployed their agents to tail her just the same," a source from the military added.

The operation initially resulted in an endless waiting game as agents staked out Rivas’ residence at No. 4 Prosperidad St. Barangay Tugatog in Malabon.

It was not until last Friday night that their efforts finally paid off.

‘Like a man’

he fugitive Faeldon allegedly picked up Rivas at the SM North EDSA in Quezon City at around 8 p.m., driving a red Toyota car.

The ISAFP agents, however, could not immediately make the arrest since what they saw was another "woman" fetching Rivas at the shopping mall. So they decided to tail the two further.

To their surprise, the "woman" kissed Rivas on the mouth before they boarded the car.

ISAFP agents also gathered that the same woman had been spotted several times by informants alighting from a tricycle in front of Rivas’ house at certain hours of the night.

"Babae, pero parang wala sa porma, parang lalaki pa rin, (Looks like a woman but not in the way he walks and swaggers, the mannerisms are those of a man)," one of the agents said.

By then, the operatives already had an idea that it was Faeldon in disguise, so they decided to tail the couple further with the assistance of several Malabon policemen in unmarked vehicles.

Faeldon apparently sensed that he was being followed and tried to shake off his followers, a ISAFP agent claimed.

A traffic jam along Sisa Road in Barangay Acacia gave the ISAFP agents and Malabon police an opportunity to catch up and eventually arrest the two.

A Malabon police official added that Faeldon did not resist arrest when he was confronted by the lawmen.

Faeldon initially pleaded to the ISAFP operatives led by Lt. Col. Magno Tabo not to arrest him, invoking his duty and love of the country.

"Huwag na lang mga, pare. Para sa bayan naman ito (Please don’t arrest me, what I am doing now is for the good of the country)," one of the ISAFP agents quoting Faeldon as telling them.

However, Tabo persuaded Faeldon to surrender, also reminding him of their duty and their loyalty to the Constitution and Commander-in-Chief.

Deeper trouble

To debunk insinuations that Rivas had been used by the ISAFP to track down Faeldon, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced it is now readying appropriate charges against her.

AFP spokesman Col. Tristan Kison said Rivas now faces general court-martial proceedings.

Among the possible charges are violations of Articles of War No. 96 and 97, or conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman and conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline.

For coddling Faeldon, Rivas could also face charges of violating the military’s Code of Ethical Standard, for having a relationship with a fugitive officer; violations of ethics in the legal profession which could led to her disbarment; and possible charges as an accessory to attempted coup d’état filed against the Magdalo rebel officers, Kison said.

"Our lawyers are looking into this. They are contemplating the appropriate charges," Kison said.

After Faeldon escaped, he taunted authorities by issuing statements urging President Arroyo’s ouster, and posted Internet pictures and video footage showing himself freely moving around military camps across the country and inside the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Four other officers allegedly involved in the 2003 mutiny also escaped in the past weeks and remain at large.

"The arrest was a result of information provided by military personnel and civilians, dispelling reports that Capt. Faeldon and his group enjoy both military and civilian support," Kison said. — With Pete Laude