The Philippine government said yesterday that a coup plot behind an uprising by renegade soldiers last weekend may have included plans to kill President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and other officials.
"The assassination has been the subject of an intelligence report, not only of the president but some other personalities, but we did not deem it wise to make that public," Interior Secretary Jose Lina told local television.
The intelligence report had yet to be validated and the government had the situation under control, Lina added.
The National Bureau of Investigation is seeking coup charges against 321 rogue troops now in detention, but Armed Forces Chief of Staff Narciso Abaya said on Thursday "the threat is still alive" with other soldiers still unaccounted for.
Local media reported that about 100 heavily armed men were missing, while mobile phone text messages circulating in the rumor-loving nation said that 500 Marines were on the loose.
Arroyo warned on Thursday the Philippines was not totally out of danger after the ninth army uprising in 17 years. She insists she will not run in elections due by May 2004, but Arroyo has many enemies who would like to ensure she cannot reverse course.
"It was not a simple mutiny, it was a coup d'etat," Lina told a Senate defense committee that began a probe yesterday of the siege at a luxury hotel in Manila's business district on July 27.
"There is a civilian component to this coup d'etat."
Government officials are pinning the blame on the camp of former president Joseph Estrada, who is on trial for economic plunder after being ousted by an army-backed popular revolt in 2001 that elevated Arroyo from vice president to the top job.
State prosecutors have filed rebellion charges against Ramon Cardenas, a member of Estrada's cabinet, accusing him of promoting the uprising after police said they found weapons and red armbands used by the mutineers at a house he owns.
Estrada denies any involvement and accused the government of "Gestapo-like work" yesterday, after newspapers said intelligence agents tried to sneak into the office of his son Jose.
"The government's plan is to keep planting evidence in the houses of those identified with me," he said on local radio.
Lina said on television investigators were also gathering evidence against Gregorio Honasan, an opposition senator and former army colonel involved in coup plots in the 1980s.
"It's true that the plot is far from over, but it's being contained," Arroyo said on Thursday.
Arroyo said her declaration of a state of rebellion -- which allows security forces, including the army, to make arrests without a warrant -- would remain in force.
But she denied it was a precursor to martial law, a very sensitive issue among Filipinos after years of rights abuses during the rule of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of