At least 355 soldiers -- 108 junior officers and 247 enlisted men -- took part in the July 27 siege of Manila's Makati financial district, nearly double the original estimate, military chief of staff General Narciso Abaya said.

Arroyo said an official inquiry into the rebellion was "now in an advanced stage and will soon account for all those involved. The evidence is mounting and is substantial and solid," she said without elaborating.

The president also said she expects to give up emergency powers she assumed to crush the rebellion. This gave her government powers to make arrests without court orders.

"We will lift the state of rebellion earlier than expected as we mop up the fringes of the conspiracy," she said in a speech to local officials here.

At the height of the mutiny, the authorities had estimated the number of military participants to between 150 and 200.

Abaya said 348 have been detained, while two officers and five enlisted men are at large.

The mutineers booby-trapped the financial district and called for Arroyo's resignation, but the action collapsed without bloodshed less than 24 hours later when it failed to muster popular support.

Last week, 321 soldiers were charged in civilian court with rebellion.

"As early as 2001", the cabal began recruiting elite units to carry it out, Abaya told reporters.

The rebels wanted to "institute totalitarian rule" through a 15-member junta, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes told the same forum.

Abaya said he deployed a battalion of infantry, comprising about 500 men, in Manila last weekend "just in case there are again some happenings as in the other weekend."

Abaya said he could not guarantee against more such attempts in the future.

"For the most part those especially the core group, they are already in confinement. But there are still some who are out there which, from our previous information, are supposed to be part of this conspiracy," he said.

"There are no overt acts right now on their part, but again we are still checking to determine whether silence means something else. That's why I cannot really give you an accurate assessment whether they are capable of doing (something) similar to what happened the other weekend."

If there is another attempt, "we'll crush it again."

The government has accused opposition politicians, including Senator Gregorio Honasan and detained former president Joseph Estrada, of being behind the mutiny. One former member of the Estrada cabinet has been arrested.

Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye on Monday urged Honasan to "denounce in unequivocal and in the strongest terms" the mutineers to show he had nothing to do with the rebellion.

The rebels had accused Arroyo and Defense Secretary Reyes of corruption and sponsoring terrorist bombings, which both officials denied. They also complained of low pay and inadequate housing, something which Abaya said is being addressed by the government.

The Philippines weathered seven coup attempts in the late 1980s, including one led by then cashiered Army colonel Honasan whose forces commandeered strike aircraft and bombed the presidential palace.

He was granted presidential amnesty in 1995 and entered politics.

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