MANILA, Nov 30: Philippines authorities launched a manhunt on Friday for more suspects accused of helping stage a dramatic but short-lived rebellion against the government which was put down by the military.

The small band of primarily armed forces officers, who had seized a luxury hotel on Thursday to demand the resignation of President Gloria Arroyo, were bundled off by police after a lightning raid, but officials said others were involved.

Police chief Avelino Razon said documents found among debris in the Peninsula Hotel, which SWAT teams stormed in a hail of gunfire and tear gas to end the stand-off, indicated that ‘four groups’ took part in the mutiny.

He told reporters that at least three renegade officers seen taking over the hotel had managed to get away despite the security cordon and a subsequent overnight curfew in Manila. “One left a wig at the hotel premises,” he said.

Officials said up to 20 people who were not part of the hotel siege were under investigation, including politicians and businessmen said to have financed the rebellion. “Some of them are businessmen but I do not want to be hasty by naming names,” National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales was quoted as saying in the press.

“We are investigating the possible involvement of certain politicians,” said armed forces chief of staff Gen Hermogenes Esperon.

Aides said Ms Arroyo would pursue her normal schedule, including a 10-day European visit. The president has faced repeated coup attempts since taking power in 2001, and many of the people involved in Thursday’s mutiny had come directly from a court hearing into their involvement in a 2003 coup attempt.

Mr Razon said some were the “usual suspects” from previous attempts to bring down the government in the Philippines.

Ms Arroyo said the siege was “plain defiance of the rule of law”. “Every setback caused by rebels who speak of change through extra-constitutional means makes it doubly harder for the real heroes to recover and begin anew,” she said. “Today is the day to remember what true heroism is all about.”

Despite the rebellion’s failure to attract large numbers of supporters onto the streets, it appeared to have been well-organised.

Police did not stop the rebels on their way to the hotel, witnesses said, and a detailed website appeared as the uprising was launched that included harsh criticisms of the state of the nation under Ms Arroyo. Among those found with the rebels was at least one prominent Catholic bishop as well as former vice-president Teofisto Guingona.—AFP