4 Held in Manila Coup Attempts Flee; Honasan Still at Large

Four air force men under military detention for alleged involvement in two coup attempts have fled their cells, the military said Monday in an announcement two days after the escape of mutineer Gregorio (Gringo) Honasan.

The announcement came as the military, on full alert, pressed a nationwide search for the charismatic former army colonel who led a bloody Aug. 28 coup attempt--the most serious challenge to the government of President Corazon Aquino.

A military spokesman, Capt. Anselmo Cabingan, said the four airmen were missing from their cells at Villamor air force headquarters.

“They are missing, not necessarily escaped,” said Cabingan, who refused to say when the men, held under armed guard, fled.

A Manila newspaper, quoting air force sources, said they disappeared Saturday--the same day Honasan escaped from a prison ship anchored in Manila Bay with his 14 guards in two rubber boats.

The military said the events were not related. Cabingan said the missing four apparently “had family problems, individual problems.”

Meanwhile, military officials denied charges by opposition Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, former defense minister, that soldiers hunting for Honasan, Enrile’s former security aide, had raided the senator’s plush beach house on southern Luzon island Sunday.