Philippine President Gloria Arroyo is defending her government's decision to release gruesome videotape footage of alleged Muslim rebels beheading captured soldiers.

Legislators and human rights group have criticized the release of the tape, but Ms. Arroyo said Wednesday that people in the Philippines have a right to know how evil the Abu Sayyaf rebel group is.

The graphic videotape was aired by at least two Philippine television stations. The tape shows a guerrilla hacking at the neck of a man lying on the ground. In another scene, a captured soldier is told to pray before his head is chopped off.

The decision to release the tape is widely being seen as a bid to bolster public support for the controversial joint U.S.-Philippine exercises being conducted against the Abu Sayyaf rebels. President Arroyo's decision to let U.S. forces participate in the campaign against the rebels has been criticized by some in the Philippines as unconstitutional.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and DPA.

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