2 former Philippine military officers arrested for involvement in coup

Philippine Joint military and police forces arrested on Saturday two former military officers for involvement in the failed 2003 mutiny in two separate operations in Metro Manila, the Philippine military said on Sunday.

The two former military colonels, Romeo Lazo and Virgillo Briones, were arrested based on a warrant issued by the Makati City regional trial court for a pending case of coup d'etat in connection with the Oakwood mutiny, said Armed Forces public information office chief Tristan Kison.

The two each have a 500,000-peso(9,434 U.S. dollars) bounty for their captures and are members of Philippine Guardians Brotherhood Inc. led by former Sen. Gregorio Honasan, a retired Army colonel who led a number of failed coups in the 1980s, Kison said.

Their arrest brought to three the number of Honasan's co- accused now under government custody, according to Kison.

Honasan has gone into hiding since being implicated in a failed uprising on February 24.

At least 21 of the officers and men directly involved in the failed 2003 mutiny are facing a case of coup d'etat before the Makati court while dozens others are facing mutiny charges before a military court, Kison said.

Source: Xinhua