Army chief Lt. Gen. Victor Ibrado yesterday said there is no more reason to fear more “military adventurism”, as he belittled the clout of fugitive Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon to recruit military men to stage another armed uprising .

“Faeldon may have friends in the military, which is normal, but to have clout and be able to gather people, and fight against the government, I doubt it,” Ibrado, commander of the 80,000 strong Philippine Army, said.

Faeldon, who has a P1 million reward on his head for his recapture, said in an interview posted on the  Internet that restiveness in the military ranks will remain as long as soldiers see irregularities in the government, especially in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Ibrado said “you cannot stop people from sympathizing with them, but if you are talking about people who will support them to wage another armed uprising, I don’t think there is any.”

Faeldon, who escaped on Nov. 29 last year during the Manila Peninsula standoff initiated by detained Senator Antonio Trillanes, was among the six core leaders of the short-lived Oakwood mutiny in July 2003, which also included Captains Milo Maestrecampo and Gary Alejano, both Negrenses.

Maestrecampo who reunited with his family in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, last week after being pardoned by President Arroyo, said the employment of violence during the mutiny was wrong.

Ibrado said the group of Maestrecampo whom he met with after their release from detention volunteered to speak to Philippine Military Academy cadets and soldier-trainees “to advise them not to do what they did.”

“I wish he has good life after this,”  Ibrado said of Maestrecampo.

Seventeen junior military officers who were dismissed dishonorably from the military service for their participation in the Oakwood mutiny, are now regular agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, including former 2Lt. Julius Navales of La Carlota City.

Ibrado said he is confident that they will be effective in the anti-drug campaign.

Faeldon, on the other hand, said he will not accept pardon from President Arroyo.

“In the first place, I do not believe she has that authority to pardon me because as far as I believe, she has no mandate, she is not the President. She is there technically but she has no mandate and I never considered her as my commander-in-chief,” Faeldon said.

The group of Trillanes, including Alejano of Sipalay City, who refused to plead guilty to coup attempt charges, are still behind bars.*GPB

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