MANILA. Anyone with information leading to the capture of a renegade Marine officer involved in the Nov. 29 takeover of portions of the Peninsula Manila hotel in Makati City can expect to become a millionaire.

President Macapagal-Arroyo has offered a P1-million reward for the capture of Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon said yesterday in a phone interview.

Razon had earlier described Faeldon as "armed and dangerous."

In her departure statement before she left on a seven-day trip to Europe last night, the President said: "I hereby direct all our government departments and agencies, especially our security and defense forces, to remain vigilant and flush out any remaining threats to national security and public safety in the country, while at the same time restoring among our people a state of normalcy and calm.

"While I am physically away, I am confident that the Vice President, ably assisted by the Cabinet secretaries, shall, as in the past, zealously look after the national interest," she added.

Razon said, "We expect that the reward offer will encourage people in the community to provide us [the necessary] information."

He said tracker teams from the PNP's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Intelligence Group had been dispatched to hunt down Faeldon, as well as three other Magdalo soldiers involved in the failed revolt led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.

The four managed to leave the five-star hotel just before police stormed in and arrested Trillanes, Lim and company.

The PNP has identified one of the men as a Corporal Colon, an employee of the Makati City government. He was seen on TV with Trillanes and Lim wearing a black camouflage uniform and a wig.

In response, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay on yesterday ordered an inquiry into the purported participation of City Hall employees in the failed revolt.

The mayor wrote a letter to Razon in which he said one Elmer Colon was indeed employed as a "job order security guard."

"Colon did not report for work on Nov. 29 and was later seen at the Manila Peninsula," Binay said.

He also cited reports that other City Hall employees were at the Peninsula during the Magdalo takeover.

"I have ordered our human resources development officers to go over the list of individuals arrested by the police and who are detained at Camp Crame," Binay said.

He said the identities of the other employees reportedly involved in the failed revolt had yet to be established.

In his letter, Binay assured Razon that the city government would work with the police investigation: "Please be assured that the city government will extend its full cooperation to the PNP. I have directed all concerned city officials to make themselves available."

Trillanes and Lim, backed by Faeldon and other soldiers belonging to the mutinous Magdalo group, walked out of a Makati courtroom and holed up at the Peninsula for about six hours, demanding that Ms Arroyo step down.

Then both in detention -- Trillanes for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny and Lim for the purported failed coup in February 2006 -- they would have set up a revolutionary transition government with themselves as leaders had they mustered sufficient support from the public and the military, according to Senior Supt. Asher Dolina.

This was gathered from documents recovered by police from the Peninsula, said Dolina, chief of the CIDG-National Capital Region.

Quoting from the documents, Dolina said that as leaders of the new government, Trillanes and Lim would have ordered the relief of all officials of the Arroyo administration.

"They planned to hold on to power until governance [had been straightened out], or all remnants of the regime had been removed, and until the situation [had stabilized]. Then they would call for elections," Dolina told the Inquirer.

He said the documents outlined the itinerary of Trillanes' group, beginning from the walkout from Judge Oscar Pimentel's courtroom all the way to their "proclamation" as leaders of the new government.

"The plans were very detailed, including the assignments of each member, the deployment of their firearms, from their descent to the elevator all the way to the march," Dolina said.

Among the programs of the new government was the elimination of the country's "mendicancy" vis a vis foreign lenders and of graft and corruption in the government, Dolina said.

He said the PNP and the Armed Forces would be trimmed to a "lean and mean" force.
"That would have meant taking out all the members of the military and police leadership, including myself," he said.

Dolina said Trillanes, Lim and company would have gotten support from active members of the PNP and AFP.

He said that in a statement to the police, Lim said the group had contacted some military units to "support" the revolt. "This was a rebellion with an armed component.

We all saw that on TV -- some of them were brandishing guns. But their expectations of [military troop movements] did not materialize," Dolina said.

He said there were enough evidence and grounds to prosecute Lim, Trillanes and company for rebellion.

Razon said the PNP was still examining the recovered documents to uncover the personalities involved in the failed revolt.

He said he was confident that investigators would be able to identify the suspects and determine how wide the plot was.

Speaking in Vice President Noli de Castro's Saturday radio program, "Para Sa Iyo, Bayan," Razon said the documents also indicated that the soldiers and other participants of the siege of the Peninsula were paid an initial amount of P10,000 and 10 SIM cards.

Razon said the documents detailed the amount each participant would get, as well as the designated task during the six-hour siege.

He said he agreed with AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, who was also a guest in the same program, that the walkout, march and takeover of portions of the five-star hotel had all been planned.

Razon also said the PNP was looking into the inaction of the Makati police, led by its deputy chief, while the revolt was unfolding.

He said the chief of police, Supt. Gilbert Cruz, was in Bangkok at that time on an official mission.

Interior Secretary Ricardo Puno earlier said Makati Mayor Binay, leader of the United Opposition, should explain why the latter did not act when the revolt was taking place in his jurisdiction.

For his part, Esperon said the AFP had subjected Trillanes and Lim's military escorts, including the chief of security, to further debriefing and investigation.

He said only 12 of the 22 rebel officers charged in court joined Trillanes and Lim's march from the Makati City Hall to the Peninsula, along with seven discharged and seven active personnel.

Asked where the long firearms of the rebels had come from, Esperon said that upon reviewing the video footage inside the courtroom, many of the soldiers involved had frequented the toilet.

"So their firearms came from the comfort room. Based on the video, they all went there during the hearing. The guards, they had short firearms," he said.

Esperon said he was in Zamboanga en route to Manila when he learned of the standoff at the Peninsula.

He said he instructed the military ground commander on the scene to coordinate with the police ground commander to end the standoff by 3 p.m.

He said Ms Arroyo wanted it ended at 2:30 p.m. except that the police at that time were still trying to negotiate with Trillanes and company to surrender.