Jail term approved for coup suspects
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has approved dismissals and four-year jail terms for 54 young officers implicated in a failed 2003 power grab.
The officers made a plea bargain agreement in a court-martial in April, resulting in a reduction of their jail term from seven to four years, military spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said.
They have been in custody since the uprising and the detention will count as time served.
The officers also will be dishonorably discharged from the military, with no benefits, when they complete their imprisonment in January.
Bacarro said Arroyo, as commander in chief, approves such harsh sentences for officers.
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