Philippine police yesterday asked the justice department to force the lower house of Congress to surrender five leftist lawmakers facing rebellion charges over a failed coup last month.
Chief Superintendent Jesus Verzosa said the five lawmakers violated an agreement between Congress and the justice department when one of them left the Congress building on Monday night to meet a group of senators, taunting police to arrest her.
"The house incident necessitates that the courtesy extended to the House of Representatives to take custody of the five should now be reconsidered," Verzosa told reporters, saying that the lawmakers could easily flee from justice.
"As members of Congress, they are not above the law," Verzosa said.
Security officials said the government had a "very solid and strong" case against six leftist members of the lower house of Congress of conspiring with rogue soldiers and political foes of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to remove her from power.
The sixth lawmaker has been in police custody since Feb. 25, a day after Arroyo declared emergency rule over the alleged plot.
Arroyo lifted her order on Friday.
"We have so many witnesses and tonnes of evidence to prove in court that they were part of the conspiracy," Norberto Gonzales, Arroyo's national security adviser, said by phone. "We have proof they helped plan the failed coup last month."
Gonzales said the six leftist lawmakers were facing two cases of rebellion -- one involving a conspiracy by the communist party to overthrow the government under a three-year plan and another over the recent plot to topple Arroyo.
He said security agencies were also looking into reports the leftist lawmakers were diverting some of their discretionary "pork barrel" funds to finance street protests and violent activities of communist New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas.
Meanwhile Arroyo warned yesterday that she would not hesitate to use emergency powers again to fight groups seeking her ouster, after imposing a weeklong emergency to quash an alleged coup attempt.
Arroyo said the conspiracy by left-wing and right-wing groups that the government quelled last week would have destroyed democracy in the Philippines if it had triumphed.
"I will not hesitate to do what needs to be done to uphold the law," Arroyo said in a live radio and television interview.
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