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Monday, August 25, 2003
Arroyo urges senator-in-hiding to cease ‘infantile’ games (12:32 pm)
MANILA -- President Arroyo on Monday urged an opposition senator who went into hiding after being accused of masterminding a failed coup attempt against the President to stop playing "infantile games" and answer rebellion charges.
State prosecutors have given Sen. Gregorio Honasan, a former Army officer who had led several coup attempts in the 1980s, until Wednesday to present evidence to refute a rebellion complaint filed by the government.
Honasan went in hiding two days after rejecting government allegations that he was the mastermind of a coup attempt against Arroyo on July 27, when 356 junior military officers and enlisted men briefly seized Manila's financial district in Makati.
Arroyo aides allege the mutiny was part of a bigger plot to assassinate the president and replace her with a 15-member junta led by Honasan.
Nearly all the military mutineers had been arrested.
"The Senate is waiting for Senator Honasan. He has been elected by his supporters for greater responsibilities other than to play hide and seek," Arroyo said in a statement.
"The work on his desk is piling up. His claim to innocence will not be helped by infantile games and excuses.
Honasan won presidential pardon in 1995 and has said he would contest the presidency in next year's election.
He has alleged the rebellion complaint filed against him is a smear campaign by the government against Arroyo's potential election rivals. AFP
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