A FORMER PHILIPPINES ambassador to the Holy See is being questioned by Italian police. He has been charged with illegal possession of firearms and it is thought that he will appear in court soon.
Bienvenido Tantoco, who was dismissed from his post when the new government took over in the Philippines, is suspected of having financed and planned the recent coup attempt against President Cory Aquino from his secluded villa on the Via Appia Antica. Mr Tantoco was a close associate and henchman of the exiled former president Marcos, and it is rumoured his home is owned by Imelda Marcos.
Little information has been released by the police, but it has been reported that Tantoco claimed that the arms belonged to his bodyguards when he was ambassador.