Two jailed over Philippine coup after spurning pardon
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MANILA (AFP) - Two former Philippine soldiers who took part in a failed coup in 2003 were sentenced on Friday, March 22, to long prison terms, officials said, after both spurned President Benigno Aquino's offer of pardon.
Ex-army first lieutenants Lawrence San Juan and Rex Bolo were found guilty of the crime of coup d'etat and both ordered to serve a maximum of 12 years in jail, court official Maria Rhodora Peralta told AFP.
"The judge found them guilty as participants of the coup, not as coup leaders," she said.
The duo were among several hundred mutineers who seized a hotel in Manila's financial district in 2003 in a failed bid by a group of junior officers to force Mr Aquino's predecessor Gloria Arroyo to resign over alleged corruption.
