BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR

PNP CHIEF Avelino Razon yesterday said the reporter who allegedly helped Marines Capt. Nicanor Faeldon escape at the height of the Manila Peninsula standoff last November will be identified only after the capture of the fugitive officer or his cohorts.

He said non-disclosure of the media person’s identity has to be deferred because of what he said were ongoing operations.

But he said the reporter is not Ces Drilon of ABS-CBN or Ellen Tordesillas of Malaya.

The PNP appears to have veered away from its earlier statement that the reporter is a female. References yesterday were merely to a "reporter."

Senior Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, PNP spokesman, said investigators are still trying to establish the reporter’s participation, if any, in the escape.

He said footage from a closed circuit television of the hotel showed the reporter talking to Faeldon during the standoff and appeared to have passed on something to Faeldon.

Razon earlier said the reporter supposedly helped Faeldon escape by giving him a press ID which he used to get out of the hotel before the group of Oakwood mutiny leader Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV was arrested.

After the standoff, about 50 members of media organizations were arrested and brought to the Metro Manila police headquarters in Taguig for "processing."

Told that the PNP’s non-disclosure of the identity of the reporter was unfair because it makes other media men suspect, Bartolome fell back on his earlier statement about the need not to name names at this time.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the reporter could be charged with accessory to rebellion or conspiracy to commit rebellion.

He said either way, the reporter is "in serious trouble." – With Raymond Africa