Manila, Aug 06: President Gloria Arroyo said today that soldiers involved in a military uprising against her government last month would be prosecuted with the full force of the law as a deterrent to other rebel troops. Arroyo told Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) finance ministers that military adventurism remained a problem because soldiers who launched a spate of deadly coup attempts a generation earlier had gotten away with murder.

More than 300 junior officers and men face life imprisonment for alleged rebellion following the 21-hour siege in the Makati Financial District on July 27. Officials alleged the mutiny formed part of a larger plot involving politicians to install a Junta in Arroyo's place.

"Because laws have been violated and the constitution has been threatened, we can assure due process but not unwarranted leniency," Arroyo said in a speech to open the two-day ASEAN ministerial meeting. "The resurgence of mutinies can be traced in part to a reluctance to enforce justice against military adventurism," she added.

Bureau Report