Gringo ready to surface?

Former senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan is reportedly planning to resurface and submit himself to legal processes involving the rebellion case filed against him by government prosecutors in connection with the July 2003 Oakwood mutiny.

Highly placed sources told The STAR yesterday that Honasan sent feelers to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.

Honasan’s resurfacing "has been mentioned to me several times but it has not happened," Gonzalez said. "I can tell you, though, there have been discussions about it. But there are certain conditions that we find difficult to comply (with)."

Gonzalez said he has been holding negotiations with a "middleman" supposedly authorized by Honasan to conduct "back-channel" talks with him.

"But I don’t know what has happened because I have not heard from his middleman for the last three weeks," he said.

Gonzalez refused to identify Honasan’s middleman except to say that he is a "high-profile" personality and "a responsible individual. I don’t think he will allow himself and his high stature to be used for some kind of testing of the waters only."

"We can always talk about certain things so all these negotiations must be sincere on all sides. If they’re just testing the waters, nothing will come of it," he added.

Honasan is facing rebellion charges filed earlier this year before the court by Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors, based on a complaint filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

He was implicated in the Oakwood mutiny when his National Recovery Program pamphlets were found among the documents seized from the mutineers, who called themselves the Magdalo group, and was supposedly photographed taking part in a "blood compact" ritual with the mutineers.

"If (Honasan) ever shows up, he will certainly be detained," Gonzalez said, declining to list Honasan’s "preconditions" before he would agree to surface. Honasan went into hiding after the DOJ filed rebellion charges.

Gonzalez encouraged Honasan "to give himself up rather than continue to be on the run. What good will it do him? He cannot live a normal life if he continues to be on the run."

Gonzalez warned people hiding Honasan that they could get themselves in trouble with the law for obstruction of justice.

While he was still an Army colonel, Honasan first figured in a military-led coup d’état plot to oust former President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. He subsequently led several failed coup attempts against former President Corazon Aquino. He went into hiding during the Aquino administration. He was once caught and sent to prison, but he escaped.

When Fidel Ramos took over from Aquino, Honasan and his fellow military rebels entered into a formal peace agreement with the government and were granted amnesty.