Friday, December 21, 2007

Police, military searched for Faeldon at Makati City hotel but yielded negative

By Ronron
December 20, 2007

Police and military operatives looked for fugitive Marine Captain Nicanor Faeldon at a Makati City hotel and its vicinity on Wednesday night but the subject, who carries a P1-million bounty on his head, was not found, officials said Thursday.

Southern Police District (SPD) Director Chief Supt. Luizo Ticman said they received information past 7pm that Faeldon was in the area of the Makati Shangri-la Hotel, prompting him to immediately send in troops from the district office and the Makati City Police office to verify the report.

However, upon inspection at the vicinity outside the hotel and an inquiry with the hotel staff, no Faeldon was found in the area.

Armed Forces National Capital Region Command (NCRCom) spokesman Capt. Carlo Ferrer said he also received the same information at around 11 pm, and learned that intelligence operatives in Metro Manila immediately verified it.

“Yes, we checked but it was negative,” Ferrer said.

Faeldon was able to give authorities a slip during the November 29 takeover by Magdalo officers of the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City. He earlier did the same in December 2005 while he was attending a court hearing at Makati City, but was re-arrested in January of the following year.

“To us, whatever information reaches us, we will act on it because we could not just disregard them. We have to check them right away,” Ticman said.

He said it is still highly possible that Faeldon remains in Metro Manila, although he is not discounting the possibility that he could be hiding in neighboring provinces too.

Faeldon is among the core leaders of the Magdalo Group when they took over the Oakwood Hotel in July 2003. He is facing charges both in military and civilian courts./DMS

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