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Filipino senator prosecuted for role in uprising

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo yesterday promised "due process" will be given to an opposition senator that her government is prosecuting for involvement in last week's military uprising.

Senator Gregorio Honasan, the highest political figure publicly implicated in the July 27 mutiny, should welcome the charges against him "as an opportunity to prove his claimed innocence," Arroyo said in a statement.

"The battle is now between evidence and conjecture, between fact and fiction. Due process shall be faithfully observed," Arroyo said. "Our only aim is to help in bringing forth the truth in clear light."

Honasan has denied allegations he instigated the mutiny by more than 300 soldiers who took over an upscale residential and shopping complex in the Makati financial center.

The rebel soldiers had dem-anded the resignations of Arroyo and other top defense officials, whom they accused of corruption.

The allegations include the sale of firearms to rebel groups and of plotting bomb attacks as a prelude for Arroyo to declare martial law.

The mutiny ended without bloodshed after a tense 22-hour standoff, with the rebels agreeing to face court martial and Arroyo promising to probe their allegations.

The government maintains Honasan helped plot what it calls a coup attempt, an incident which analysts blame for dampened investor confidence in the financial markets.

Interior Secretary Jose Lina on Monday officially filed a criminal complaint against Honasan before the justice department.

Honasan was a former army colonel who in the 1980s led several bloody coup attempts against the government. He was later amnestied as part of a peace deal with rebel soldiers.

Arroyo yesterday said she would not block congressional inquiries into the rebellion, even as she said an independent fact-finding body she created earlier would continue with its work.

The parallel investigations "will also allow Senator Honasan two forums in which to air his case, the forum of his peers and the forum of the bench."

"I am for giving the people the full, unadulterated and unabridged story about the notorious misadventure and I welcome all responsible efforts towards this end," she said.
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