A Philippine lawmaker said on Friday several military officers could be court-martialled after Congress found strong evidence that they had colluded with hostage-taking Abu Sayyaf rebels.
Senate defense committee chairman Ramon Magsaysay said he had found "strong evidence there might be some collusion between some military officers and those involved in the kidnapping and possible ransom (of hostages)".
"I am afraid we might even go for a court martial," he said in a television interview.
The congressional inquiry was triggered when members of the Muslim guerrilla group, who were cornered inside a hospital and church on the southern island of Basilan with 20 US and Filipino hostages, managed to slip through a military cordon on June 2.
The defence committee in the House of Representatives continued its own public hearings on the Basilan debacle on Friday, with the officers implicated insisting that testimonies linking them with the kidnappers were false.
Basilan residents told Magsaysay and other senators on Thursday how the Abu Sayyaf escaped with most of their hostages through a military cordon in the town of Lamitan -- MANILA (AFP)
