Opposition lawyer, 4 others accused of plotting a coup (Updated 9:32 p.m.)
MANILA - Philippine police filed criminal complaints Thursday against an opposition lawyer, three retired colonels and a former police officer for allegedly plotting to overthrow President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
National Police Director General Avelino Razon said authorities were taking seriously the allegations that the five, led by prominent opposition lawyer Homobono Adaza, had planned to oust the president and tried to extort money from a Japanese businessman to finance the coup.
Adaza vehemently denied the allegations.
“How could I stage a coup? There is not a single soldier that I have. All these people are retired colonels,” he told reporters.
An additional criminal complaint of harboring a criminal was filed against Adaza because the former police officer who was also arrested was wanted in connection with a 2001 murder.
State prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco said he would investigate the complaints and decide whether to charge the five men in a court with proposing to commit coup d’etat - a violation of the Philippine penal code.
Arroyo was not worried and her activities were not affected by the alleged plot, according to a government statement that also said the security alert level at the presidential palace remained normal.
Velasco said Adaza and the retired officers were arrested Wednesday in a Manila shopping mall after another opposition lawyer, Raymond Fortun, accused them of trying to extort at least US$4 million from his client, a Japanese businessman, to finance the ouster.
In a written statement to police, Fortun said his client Motonori Sakuma and other Japanese investors had been trying to gain management control of a resort in the central Philippine province of Marinduque. He said the retired officers arrested with Adaza had threatened to kill two Filipino officers of the resort company and place the blame on Sakuma if he did not pay up.
Fortun said he and his client refused Adaza’s demand and reported the alleged extortion attempt to police because they feared for their safety. (AP)
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