MANILA, Philippines -- Former assemblyman and opposition lawyer Homobono Adaza turned the tables on his accuser Wednesday and blasted the Arroyo administration for allegedly prosecuting members of the opposition.

Adaza, who was arrested last week along with four others for allegedly plotting a coup, accused lawyer Raymond Fortun as the one who was involved in the alleged destabilization.

He said that Fortun had asked him how much it would take to launch a coup to topple the Arroyo administration.

Fortun had accused Adaza and four other military and police officers, of a “proposal to commit coup d’etat.” Fortun said Adaza tried to extort $4 million from his Japanese client to fund the alleged coup.

“I charge my accusers with conspiracy with the Arroyo administration in manufacturing cases against me in a desperate effort to perpetuate the continuing contemptible climate of fear in this country so every one will be terrified and subdued,” Adaza said.

Adaza disclosed that when he met Fortun on May 27, it was the latter who told him “there was an ongoing plan to pull a coup by known personalities with active officers in the military. I thought this was a joke but when he asked me how much did I think it would cost to pull a coup, I thought it was serious.”

He also laughed off accusations he was out to launch a coup, saying it “is not only ridiculous, it is absolutely false. How can a lawyer with four retired colonels plan to pull a coup?”

Adaza said Fortun also wanted two Filipino businessmen liquidated to solve the conflict between the two and his client over their resort project.

But Fortun laughed off Adaza’s accusations.

“Atty. Adaza and God knows that accusation has no basis,” Fortun said. “I have no track record for being part of any destabilization moves. I don’t know any military officer nor am I going around meeting military officers.”

On the slay plot, Fortun said Adaza should have filed a complaint with authorities. “The records show they had not filed any blotter of any threat made by me against anyone.”

Adaza was arrested on June 2 in a hotel in the Ortigas area together with Lt. Col. Oscar Mapalo, former police Supt. Rafael Cardeño and retired Colonels Ernie Amboy and Cesar dela Peña. They were charged with a “proposal to commit coup d’etat,” extortion or swindling, and obstruction of justice.

Adaza said he was being prosecuted for handling the cases of perceived critics of the administration like Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, the Magdalo group, Marine Col. Ariel Querubin and former National Bureau of Investigation deputy chief Samuel Ong.