Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was in Singapore for a bilateral visit Sunday when Filipino rebel soldiers seized an apartment tower in Manila where Australian ambassador Ruth Pearce and other officers were temporarily staying.

The soldiers demanded that Arroyo and her government step down, accusing them of breeding corruption and sponsoring terrorism, charges dismissed by the administration.

All the embassy personnel in the tower, along with four visiting Australian federal policemen staying there, were later released unharmed, and Downer said the Australians were not spefically targeted.

"This comes at a very difficult time when the Philippines is in the forefront of the war against terrorism," Downer told journalists, citing Manila's campaign against Southeast Asian extremist Islamic groups for which he said Australia had strong support.

"The last thing any of us wants at this time is this kind of instability. We hope that this confrontation in Manila will be resolved in favour of the democratically elected government of the president of the Philippines," he said.

Downer described the soldiers occupying the buildings in Manila as "dissident rebel army officers" and said their demanding the replacement of the head of government "is a coup, and that's not something to be encouraged, that's something to be resisted and opposed."

"It's important the international community gets behind the democratically elected government," he said.

"This couldn't really have come at a worse time when such an enormous effort is being made by not just the Philippine government but by the broader regional and international community in the fight against terrorism," he said.

"For army officers and their supporters to try to stage a coup, we regard that as entirely unacceptable," he said, brushing aside suggestions that the incident in Manila was not a coup attempt.

"We've been deeply concerned about the attempted coup in the Philippines. We believe that if such a coup were to be successful, this would have a very serious impact on the Philippines' relations with Australia and with other countries around the world."

Arroyo was elected vice president in 1998 and took over from Joseph Estrada after he was toppled by a popular uprising in January 2001.

Supporters of Estrada, who mounted a failed attempt to overthrow Arroyo in May 2001, are under suspicion of having links to the current unrest in Manila.

Arroyo on Sunday warned the estimated 200 men holed up at the complex to surrender by 5:00 pm (0900 GMT) or face an all-out government assault.

Arroyo was severely embarrassed this month when a convicted Indonesian bomb expert, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, was discovered to have escaped from a police detention center in Manila as Australian Prime Minister John Howard was visiting the Philippines.

But Downer said in Singapore that "we've been happy with our relationship with President Arroyo and her ministers."

Downer said Australia had urged its nationals to temporarily avoid Makati, the financial and diplomatic district where the confrontation was staged, and expressed hope that a peaceful resolution could be reached.

He said it was not clear if any other Australians were in the occupied building.

"We at this stage are not entirely sure whether there are any other Australians left in the building. We don't have any information that there are. But we can't at this stage rule out that possibility."

WAR.WIRE