Ex-Philippine officials urge Arroyo to come clean

MANILA (Reuters) - About 60 former top Philippine government officials urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday to lift restrictions on information about a multi-million dollar telecoms deal tainted by corruption allegations.

The former state officials also called on her to suspend two Cabinet members, the head of the national police and four others for trying to stop a witness from testifying at a Senate inquiry into accusations of $130 million paid in kickbacks on the deal.

"The president should act immediately and decisively to enable the truth to emerge," read a statement signed by the ex-officials, including former central bank governor Jose Cuisia and four one-time finance chiefs.

"The president must demonstrate her commitment to the truth through these actions within one week ... or the people will make their judgment and act on the basis of their conviction."

The intervention came on the same day as Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, formally denied wrongdoing at an inquiry into the deal by the anti-graft Ombudsman.

The ex-officials want Arroyo to allow her former Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri to resume his testimony before the Senate and release all public documents about the telecoms deal.

They also wanted her to stop state agencies from harassing a witness in the Senate inquiry, Rodolfo Lozada, to prevent him from giving information about irregularities in the $329 million contract.

"This is the best way to get to the truth," Cuisia said as he and 20 former senior officials in the government faced reporters at a clubhouse in Manila.

Vicente Paterno, a former trade minister in the governments of former presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino, said the allegations of multi-million dollar kickbacks have outraged many middle-class Filipinos.