Hotel standoff ends: Philippines counters yet another coup attempt

At least three groups are also expected to link up and hold rallies at the Liwasang Bonifacio -- the Church-based group Solidarity Philippines (SP), the Inter-Faith Justice for Peace and Integrity for Creation Network (IFJPICN), and the Task Force on Urban Conscientization.

The groups are calling for Arroyo to step down.

Gonzales also said the government was on guard for a possible outpouring of sympathy from the military for Trillanes.

The Philippines has a long history of coups, as this timeline from Reuters shows. This is the fourth coup attempt since 2001, when Arroyo first came to power in a popular uprising when the Army withdrew support from then-president Joseph Estrada and supported her instead.

Thursday's coup attempt was so similar to the soldiers' previous attempts that it was like déjà vu for Manila residents, the British Broadcasting Corp. pointed out.

In most countries, the occupation of a luxury hotel in the heart of the capital by renegade soldiers would constitute an alarming national crisis.

But Thursday's events in the Philippine capital, Manila, have a weary familiarity about them.

… The so-called "Oakwood incident" of four years ago ended without bloodshed, when the mutineers were persuaded to surrender.

But previous coup attempts in the late 1980s resulted in widespread shooting and dozens of deaths.

Yet the officers who led those coups were pardoned, and in some cases went on to successful careers in politics.

There appears to be an unspoken tolerance of armed intervention by disgruntled officers claiming to act against corrupt governments.

Government officials said a curfew had been called to allow police to "hunt down armed and civilian groups" connected to the standoff, reports the online news portal of Philippines TV channel ABS-CBN. A gun ban will also take effect after the curfew, barring even licensed gun owners to carry firearms outside their homes, it said.

Dozens of journalists covering the standoff in the hotel were also rounded up, causing an outcry about media freedom, reports the Associated Press. The government said it wants to ensure that rebel troops did not escape among the journalists.

"Media organizations cried foul, saying freedom of speech is constitutionally guaranteed in a nation priding itself with having a lively, freewheeling media system," the AP said.

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