Ramos, the president between 1992-1998, reacted strongly on Thursday after Arroyo appeared to blame him for the spate of military rebellions that have dogged the Southeast Asian country since the late 1980s.

"The president talked with the former president this morning," Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye told reporters.

"It was a talk between friends and between allies," he said. "We believe the matter has been settled."

Ramos, who is visiting Singapore, earlier Friday urged Arroyo to stand in next year's presidential election, saying her effective handling of the July 27 military mutiny has given her the "moral high ground."

Arroyo said in a speech to Southeast Asian finance ministers on Wednesday, 10 days after quelling the mutiny, that "the resurgence of mutinies can be traced in part to a reluctance to enforce justice against military adventurism."

In the 1980s Ramos, first as armed forces chief of staff and later as defense secretary, foiled seven military rebellions against the government of Corazon Aquino that left hundreds dead.

In 1995, three years after he was elected president, Ramos signed a peace settlement with military rebels that granted the 1980s mutineers blanket amnesty.

Ramos said Thursday that prosecution was among the options considered by Aquino against the coup leaders then, but the government decided the need to establish peace and unity was more important as Manila opened peace talks with communist as well as Muslim separatist rebels.

Opposition Senator Gregorio Honasan, an ex-army colonel who led many of the 1980s coup attempts against Aquino, has been accused by the government of being one of the masterminds of the July 27 mutiny against Arroyo.

WAR.WIRE