NBI task force fails to find Gringo in Cebu — report

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents failed to arrest former senator Gregorio Honasan following a three-day operation in Cebu.

Reynaldo Esmeralda, NBI special task force chief, said his men had been closely watching possible areas in Cebu where Honasan could be hiding for the last three days.

The operation was aborted last Friday after they failed to find Honasan, who is wanted on rebellion charges, he added.

Esmeralda said his men had closely monitored the resorts allegedly owned by Honasan in the southern towns of Boljoon and Alcoy and a mountain barangay in Cebu City.

He already handed a copy of the warrant for Honasan’s arrest to the regional office of the NBI in Cebu, Esmeralda said.

A nationwide manhunt has been launched by the government against Honasan after a court in Makati had issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of coup d’etat in connection with the failed Oakwood mutiny.

Honasan, a former Army colonel who played a vital role in the 1986 military revolt that ousted President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, was accused of plotting the uprising on July 27, 2003 with junior military officers.

After being implicated in an alleged left-right-wing conspiracy to oust the Arroyo administration, Honasan has gone into hiding.

His last public appearance was on the last week of February when he, along with original members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, gathered to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the EDSA I people power revolt.

Last March 2, a Makati City court granted the government’s motion to consolidate the coup charges against Honasan and six others after it was established that the cases of the former Army colonel and the Oakwood mutineers contained the same facts and pointed to the same offense.

Senior State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera said he is expecting Honasan to ask the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order to stop his arrest.

After granting the government’s motion, Judge Cesar Santamaria ordered that the case of Honasan and his six co-accused be sent back to the Office of the Clerk of Court for consolidation with the coup charges against the Magdalo renegade soldiers being heard by Judge Oscar Pimentel.

Honasan, who has an outstanding warrant of arrest, did not attend yesterday’s hearing, but his lawyer, Cherry Cruz, participated in the proceedings.

The coup charges against Honasan were filed shortly after President Arroyo declared a state of national emergency last month.

Honasan was charged with the crime of coup d’état, along with Ernesto Macahiya, retired Capt. Felix Turingan, George Duldulao, Col. Virgilio Briones, retired Col. Romeo Lazo and Lina Reyes in connection with the Oakwood mutiny.

The Oakwood mutineers are led by Navy Lt. Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV, Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, and 1Lt. Lawrence San Juan.

These renegade military officers and their men seized and occupied the posh Oakwood apartment building in the Makati central business district in July 2003 during a short-lived military uprising meant to force Mrs. Arroyo to step down.

In a complaint, dated Jan. 18 and filed on Feb. 24, the Department of Justice said Honasan, Macahiya, Turingan, Duldulao, Briones, Lazo, Reyes and several unidentified men and women had instigated the junior military officers and their men to launch an uprising on July 27, 2003 and seize the Oakwood apartment building in Makati.

Honasan allegedly recruited the junior military officers and enlisted men belonging to the Magdalo group, the complaint added.

During a Senate hearing in 2003, a photograph showing Honasan allegedly having a blood compact was presented by the military to the senators.

As an Army colonel, Honasan led a series of coups against President Corazon Aquino and almost toppled her administration in a bloody uprising in December 1989. — Freeman News Service