While boxing hero Manny Pacquiao was partying the night away last Friday, law enforcers were doing their own thing in capturing Oakwood mutineer Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon.
It was a day of celebration that started with the return to the country by Pacquiao and fellow boxing champion Jimrex Jaca. They had several courtesy calls on government offices including Malacanang, followed by a motorcade through two major cities and an all-night party to celebrate their recent boxing victory.
While the partying went on with Pacquiao et al, agents of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, apparently infected with the gusto shown by our boxers, were going after the fugitive Faeldon with renewed vigor.
Faeldon was the escapee who taunted the government with video clips presented to media showing him in public places, even before military command headquarters, when he was supposed to be the subject of a manhunt. He escaped last Dec. 14 from his jailers after a court hearing on the failed July 27, 2003 mutiny at the Oakwood hotel.
He later came out with a website at www.pilipino.org.ph where he urged Filipinos to resort to civil disobedience and join him in his cause. He posted there too his video clips on his sojourns to the outside world.
Reports on his re-capture said he was seen with a woman strolling at a mall. Agents followed them when they returned to his house in Malabon. It was there raiders surprised Faeldon and brought him back to prison.
Armed Forces spokesman Col. Tristan Kison confirmed Faeldon’s arrest in a television interview at the same time that Pacquiao was dancing and singing with the crowd in Manila. It was a fiesta to cap the homecoming of our boxing heroes, a party made more festive for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with reports on Faeldon’s capture.
Still, there were doubts on how and why Faeldon was able to escape in the first place. Even the timing of his re-capture, when the feeling of pride was infecting the country, was not spared the questions.
What cannot be questioned is that one of the perceived threats to the Arroyo administration is now back in jail. That’s one down and, maybe, thousands more to go.
Surely the government cannot arrest everybody against the Arroyo presidency. It could, however, work at adding gusto, stemming from the Pacquiao mania, to their efforts at addressing the complaints of the restive military sector and at punishing those who violated the law.
It would be the more appropriate honor Arroyo could bestow on Pacquiao if, after seeing the country united even for just a while, something more concrete other than military action would be taken to address the root of the country’s problems.
