Gov't drops coup charges against Gringo Honasan

MANILA (AFP) - The Philippines dropped charges Friday against veteran coup plotter and senator Gregorio Honasan of trying to oust President Gloria Arroyo in a military rebellion.

Honasan, a former army colonel popularly known as "Gringo", had been charged with masterminding an attempted coup in 2003 which was quickly put down.

But a judge in a lower court in Manila ordered the case ended, after government prosecutors withdrew the charges Friday citing a lack of evidence.

The charismatic former military rebel expressed relief at the decision, describing the time since the charges were laid as "harrowing".

"We are of course very happy that our justice system is still working," said Honasan, who has been on bail since his arrest in Manila last November.

"I hope our people, especially the poor ones would also benefit from a very responsive justice system," he said. He has denied any role in the plot.

Honasan won a six-year term to the Senate in May mid-term elections despite facing life in prison if convicted over the attempted coup d'etat.

Judge Oscar Pimentel said the case against Honasan had been withdrawn.

"The request of the prosecution to withdraw the case against Senator Gregorio Honasan is hereby given due course," Pimentel said.

"The name of Senator Honasan is hereby dropped from the information and the case against him considered withdrawn," he said in his written order.

Prosecutors had charged him with masterminding the July 2003 mutiny by some 300 soldiers led by a cabal of junior military officers.

The soldiers seized plush apartments in Manila's financial district as part of a plan to force Arroyo's resignation.

But the plot crumbled in 24 hours and the rebels surrendered without a fight when they failed to rally support from the rest of the military.

Fifty-four of the officers have since been sentenced to seven years in jail by a military court.

Honasan received a presidential pardon in the early 1990s for his role in a series of bloody coup attempts against then president Corazon Aquino in the late 1980s.