An intelligence officer, citing reports from government "assets," said Maj. Noel Buan was first seen in the company of heavily armed rebels who raided a police detachment in Quezon a year after his abduction.
"When government assets saw him several times in the company of rebels in the hinterlands of Southern Tagalog, he appeared to be already a ‘won-over soldier’ than a captive," the source said.
The source quoted a relative of Buan as having once said that the captive soldier harbored ill-will against the Estrada government for being "indifferent" in negotiating for his and police Chief Inspector Abelardo Martin’s release.
Martin died from injuries he sustained during a gunbattle between his rebel-captors and Army Scout Rangers in General Nakar, Quezon last Thursday.
Martin’s death prompted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to declare a 30-day truce with the rebels in Southern Tagalog, apparently to pave the way for Buan’s release.
Mrs. Arroyo has made peace initiatives with the communist and Moro separatist groups.