Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Thursday night declared a curfew, which will start midnight up to dawn of Friday, after ending a six-hour standoff with a group of renegade soldiers at a luxury hotel in Makati City, the financial hub of Metro Manila.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said that curfew will start midnight Thursday and end 05:00 a.m. Friday in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and neighboring provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon.

Puno said the curfew will be imposed as government forces have plans to conduct follow up operations.

Two military officers who were involved in coups in the past few years led a standoff with government Thursday after walking out of a courtroom.

Antonio Trillanes IV and Danilo Lim were later arrested after they surrendered to government forces. They led a dozen renegade soldiers to march on Makati Avenue and occupied the Peninsula Hotel, a five-star hotel in the center of Makati City.

The standoff ended after government forces threatened to use force and forced into the hotel with an armored personnel carrier while filling the lobby with tear gas.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2007)