Arroyo called for reconciliation within the military but also stressed that those who carried out the mutiny must be punished while their alleged sponsors must be tracked down and crushed.

"The resort to destabilization can only be the handiwork of the most desperate groups that have completely lost their moral compass," Arroyo said in her first meeting with the armed forces leaders since the mutiny on Sunday.

The talks were held at the military headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo in a Manila suburb.

More than 200 soldiers occupied a shopping and apartment complex in the heart of the financial district of Makati on Sunday, setting up explosives and demanding that Arroyo and other top officials step down for allegedly colluding with rebel groups and engaging in terrorism.

Some 20 hours later, the renegades surrendered and returned to their barracks after the authorities agreed to consider some of their grievances, including a probe into alleged corruption in the military.

Arroyo said her government would "take all means to repair the division caused by the incident by rectifying the grievances that caused it and bringing the plotters to justice."

She said she would "move on both fronts of dialogue and just retribution."

Arroyo also called on the military to stand against those who wanted to return the country to "the dark ages of dictatorship and deception," referring to the authoritarian rule from 1972 to 1986 and the bloody coup attempts from 1986 to 1989.

She also said that she was appointing retired Supreme Court justice Florentino Feliciano to head a committee "to investigate the roots of the mutiny and the provocations that inspired it."

Meanwhile, military spokesman Colonel Daniel Lucero said that court-martial proceedings were being prepared against the mutinous soldiers, including the creation of a special task force drawn from all the services for the investigation.

He said the rebel soldiers had been placed under the custody of their respective service commanders.

Lucero said their movements were being "restricted" and they would not be allowed out of their headquarters, adding that there were security measures to keep them from fleeing.

"We will give them a fair trial, we will give them a day in court to explain their side," Lucero said.

Defense officials meanwhile displayed expensive communications equipment as well as documents captured from the mutineers indicating their scheme was wider than they claimed.

The maps and diagrams showed that the mutineers had really planned to seize an entire block of Makati, including several luxury hotels.

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes reiterated his belief that the soldiers had been manipulated by secret political backers.

"I want to find out who is behind this mutiny, this rebellion so we will know who are these traitors," Reyes said.

"They were well-funded, they had (communications) equipment that did not come from the military so it means they had support from the outside," he said.

Reyes did not say who was behind the plot but authorities have detained Ramon Cardenas, a former aide of deposed president Joseph Estrada after weapons allegedly used by the mutineers were seized from his home.

Estrada was ousted in a popular, military-backed uprising in 2001 and is being detained while facing trial for corruption. He has denied any role in the mutiny but expressed "sheer admiration" for the rogue soldiers.

Senator Gregorio Honasan, amnestied for his role in several coup attempts in the 1980s, said he would show up on the Senate floor to answer government accusations that he was linked to the latest mutiny.

WAR.WIRE