JAKARTA -- The Philippines and Indonesia are discussing a proposal to repatriate Indonesian Islamic militant Agus Dwirkana and other convicts so they can serve their sentences in their home countries, it was confirmed Tuesday.

Visiting Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said the proposal would cover not only Dwikarna but all citizens of the two countries.

He was speaking after talks with his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirayuda, AFP reported.

Dwikarna was arrested at Manila airport in March and jailed for 10 years for possessing explosives. Two other Indonesians arrested with him have since been freed without charges and sent home.

Ople said he had submitted a draft proposal to Indonesia, adding that it would help both countries in addressing "problems caused by the conviction and the sentencing" of Dwikarna.

He did not give details. In Manila a senior Foreign Department source said Monday that sending Dwirkana home was intended to placate his allies and discourage them from harming Filipinos living and working in Indonesia.

Dwirkana's conviction has sparked several protests in Indonesia.

This month a senior aide to Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said he was concerned for the safety of Filipinos in Indonesia following alleged kidnap threats.

The international crisis group, in a report this month, said the evidence against Dwirkana was almost certainly planted. Ople told reporters the prisoner transfer proposal "will not apply exclusively or solely for Mr. Dwikarna since it will cover all Indonesians who are currently serving sentences after convictions in the Philippines, just as it will cover Philippine prisoners in Indonesia." Wirayuda said the proposed agreement was not yet final and should be seen as "a general framework of cooperation in the field of law."

Philippine justice officials have implicated Dwikarna -- but not charged him -- in a Manila bomb blast on December 30, 2000 that claimed over a dozen lives and in an explosion that wounded the Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia at his Jakarta home in August 2000.

Dwirkana has appealed the explosives conviction and his case is scheduled to be re-tried by another court later this month.

Ople, on the first day of a two-day working trip, is due to hold talks with President Megawati Sukarnoputri and senior officials before returning home on Wednesday.