Fugitive coup plotter implicates pro-Arroyo senator on TV show

Manila: A fugitive coup plotter appeared on TV and claimed that a "pro-administration leader, Senator Gregorio Honasan, was the "secret leader" of the failed coup plot against President Gloria Arroyo in 2003.

"He is the real leader of the coup. I am still in Metro Manila," said Captain Nicanor Faeldon.

He and three others had escaped after they took over the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City in November last year, following a walk-out from Makati's regional trial court where their case on the 2003 failed coup was being heard.

Reporter's help

"I am prepared, now, as much as I was four years ago, to pay the price for telling the truth," said Faeldon. "I will not come out from my hiding place until the end of the term of Gloria Arroyo," said Faeldon,, who called her a "fake president".

"I managed to escape from the Peninsula Hotel because security was not tight. I escaped without the help of a lady foreign correspondent, as alleged by authorities," Faeldon said.

In response, Honasan's spokesman said that a regional trial court had already released the senator in 2007 and this could not be reversed because of a statement from a fugitive coup plotter. "Besides, the one who was interviewed on TV did not look like Faeldon," said the spokesman.

Senator Rodolfo Biazon also said that the Faeldon, who was on TV had a Visayan accent, adding that the Faeldon he knew has no provincial accent.

Faeldon's lawyer, Christi Angeles, denied that her client was the one who appeared on TV, adding he was "not stupid" to risk being re-arrested.

The military will continue its efforts to look for him, vowed Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro. "He should prove what he said on TV in court. How can he do that if he continues to be in hiding?" said Teodoro.

Reward

The government set a 1 million pesos (Dh90,909) reward for any information that may lead to Faeldon's re-arrest. The defence department had featured Faeldon in a poster as one of the country's most wanted personalities.

Faeldon escaped the first time on December 14, 2005, while attending a hearing of the case that was filed against him. While in hiding, he set up an organisation called Pilipino.org, and gave anti-government statements in his popular website, www.pilipino.org.ph.

He was recaptured on January 27, 2005, in suburban Mandaluyong City. He was in solitary confinement when he escaped from the court last year.

- With additional inputs by Rafael Juan, Correspondent