Philippines arrests two aides of coup plotter

Police arrested Romeo Lazo and Virgilio Briones in separate raids in a suburb of the Philippine capital late Saturday, said Colonel Tristan Kison.

The two are facing charges for their alleged involvement in a short-lived military mutiny against President Gloria Arroyo in July, 2003.

Officials say the two men worked with former senator Gregorio Honasan and were also members of a right-wing military fraternity he headed.

Honasan remains in hiding and faces arrest for alleged involvement in a coup plot against Arroyo that was quashed in February after the president declared a weeklong state of emergency.

Honasan, a former army colonel, led several bloody coup attempts in the 1980s but was later pardoned and ran successfully for Senate. He lost his senatorial bid in the 2002 midterm elections.