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THE United States said on Tuesday it was squarely behind President
Gloria Arroyo and will not support any unconstitutional means to
oust her.
US Ambassador Kristie Kenney said her government
was “delighted” that a six-hour hotel siege by rebel soldiers
ended without bloodshed on Thursday.
“No, we do not support extra-constitutional
means to change government, in the Philippines or anywhere else in
the world,” Kenney told reporters.
“I think it’s always disturbing when you see
people behaving contrary to the rule of law and constitutional
authority,” she said.
Kenney also praised the police and military for
resolving the crisis quickly.
She said Washington will continue to “remain a
very, very strong ally” of President Arroyo, President George W.
Bush’s key ally in the Southeast Asian theater of the US-led
“war on terror.”
Kenney added that she called Mrs. Arroyo and her
top security chiefs during the siege on Thursday to express her
government’s support.
“We want this country to move forward,” she
said, noting that economically the Philippines also performed well
in the past year.
Former Navy Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes 4th and
Army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim led a small band of rebel soldiers and
civilian supporters in taking over the Manila Peninsula hotel in
Makati City.
Trillanes, who won a Senate seat in May, and Lim
had stormed out of the Makati Regional Trial Court that was hearing
a separate rebellion case against them, stemming from a 2003 mutiny.
They subsequently holed up at the hotel, accused
Mrs. Arroyo of corruption and stifling political dissent and
demanded she step down. They also called on the military to turn
against her, whom they claimed was an “illegitimate” President.
They surrendered after elite police commandos
and troops stormed the hotel amid a flurry of tear gas and gunfire.
Trillanes, Lim and 34 others, including former Vice-President
Teofisto Guingona Jr., were charged with rebellion on Monday.
--AFP
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