AFP urges Faeldon to surrender

You can run, but you can’t hide.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday urged Magdalo ringleader Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon to surrender voluntarily to authorities, because eventually, the law would catch up with him.

Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, AFP public information office chief, said in an interview that they have leads that could possibly result in the re-arrest of Faeldon, who went missing following the seven-hour standoff led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.

“He can run but he cannot hide forever. The bottom line is the long arm of the law would catch up with him,” he said.

Bacarro added that Faeldon’s best option is not to wait for law enforcement agencies to track him down but to surrender voluntarily.

He said the same goes for former Marine TSgt. Elmer Colon and Cpl. Sonny Madarang, who also fled at the height of the assault on the hotel by police and military teams during the Peninsula Manila siege.

“They should surrender voluntarily, otherwise, the AFP and the Philippine National Police would continue conducting intelligence driven operations to track them down,” Bacarro said.

It was the second time that Faeldon escaped following a hearing of his coup d’etat case at the Makati Regional Trial Court, after his first getaway on Dec. 14, 2005.

Faeldon, in an act of defiance, had set up a Filipino website shortly after his escape and posted pictures depicting his presence in some of the AFP’s military installations while he was then on the run.

He was caught, more than a month after his daring flight, by operatives of the Intelligence Service of the AFP (ISAFP) in the company of Capt. Candelaria Rivas, a military prosecutor of the Oakwood case who is assigned with the Judge Advocate General’s Office and Faeldon’s alleged lover.

The government has offered a P1-million bounty for the re-arrest of Faeldon, a move that was strongly opposed by his lawyer Trixie Angeles, saying this could set the stage for drastic actions against the Marine officer.