Filipino Troops Arrest 10 After Tip About Coup

Troops today arrested 10 people in raids on hideouts of the leader of an August coup attempt after intelligence reports that he planned to attack the presidential palace, the military said.

Officials said those arrested included eight navy guards who helped former Lt. Col. Gregorio (Gringo) Honasan, leader of the Aug. 28 coup attempt, escape his prison ship on April 2.

Chief military spokesman Col. Oscar Florendo said the operation was continuing but that Honasan, leader of the bloody Aug. 28 coup attempt, remained at large. The charismatic former lieutenant colonel had been detained on the navy ship after his arrest last December in a Manila suburb.

Tip About Renegades

Brig. Gen. Rodolfo Biazon, commander of the National Capital Regional Defense Command, said three marine companies and 30 police and soldiers carried out the raid one day after a tip that renegade troops were hiding in the Blue Ridge district of suburban Quezon City.

Col. Emiliano Templo, chief of staff of the Capital Regional Command and leader of the raiding party, said the military learned of a plot to attack the presidential compound “so we acted quickly, we preempted the plan.”

Templo said the conspirators planned to approach the palace by rubber boats, traveling down a nearby stream which flows into the Pasig River. The presidential palace is on the banks of the Pasig.

On Alert Against Coup

The raid took place as the military was on full alert to prevent a new coup attempt while Aquino paid a four-day visit to China and Hong Kong. She left Thursday.

The raid lasted only 15 minutes, Florendo said, and there was no resistance. He said up to eight houses were raided, but all those arrested were found in one dwelling.

They included Lt. Eraldo Mojica, commander of the security force aboard the ship from which Honasan escaped. Two of those arrested were civilians, Biazon said.

Troops seized 16 M-14 rifles, four M-16s, one light machine gun, five Israeli-made Uzi machine guns, five radio sets, a grenade launcher, several grenades and ammunition.