Philippine intel head quits
From CNN Correspondent Maria Ressa
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Arroyo thanked government troops for their role in ending the mutiny.
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THE PHILIPPINES
GEOGRAPHY: Pacific archipelago of 7,107 islands 600 miles southeast of China. Tropical climate.
POPULATION: More than 76 million. Most descendants of migrants from Southeast Asia and Indonesia; large ethnic Chinese minority.
RELIGION: About 84 percent Roman Catholic; others mostly Protestant, Muslim, animist.
LANGUAGE: Filipino, Malay language based on Tagalog; English, second official language, widely used in business and government.
HISTORY: Spanish colony from 1521 to 1898, when U.S. Navy defeated Spainish fleet at Manila Bay. Americans crushed Filipino rebels in six-year war. Japan occupied islands in World War II. Independence granted in 1946.
RECENT POLITICAL UNREST: Dictator Ferdinand Marcos ousted by popular protests in 1986. Several failed coup attempts against President Corazon Aquino in late 1980s by military officers complaining about corruption. President Joseph Estrada forced from office on Jan. 20, 2001, by mass protests over corruption allegations.
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MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- The Philippine army intelligence chief has quit in the aftermath of a failed weekend mutiny by nearly 300 renegade soldiers.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo accepted the resignation of Brig. Gen. Victor Corpus on Wednesday with "deep regret."
Corpus resigned in an apparent bid to ease unrest among the country's soldiers following Sunday's bloodless 21-hour uprising.
Rogue soldiers rigged explosives in Manila's downtown area at the weekend and barricaded themselves into a hotel and shopping complex.
They accused Arroyo's government of arming rebel groups and abetting a Muslim insurgency in the south of the country so she could extend her term in office.
The disgruntled soldiers claimed Corpus had led special operations teams to stage bomb attacks in the south to get more funding from the United States, and demanded he be kicked out of the military.
While Corpus denied the allegations in a letter dated July 29, saying they were "without basis," he offered to resign as intelligence chief and retire from the armed forces.
In accepting his resignation, Arroyo called Corpus a "noble officer" and asked him to stay in the armed forces.
In a State of the Nation address on Monday, Arroyo launched two independent commissions to look at why the mutiny occurred and investigate the Davao airport bombing that killed more than 20 people.
Prosecutors on Tuesday filed rebellion charges against a former aide to ousted president Joseph Estrada for his role in the mutiny attempt.
They say Ramon Cardenas allowed a home he owned to be used as a staging point for the uprising.
The mutineers are being held and questioned at military intelligence headquarters.
