Officials said the criminal charges are separate from court-martial proceedings launched against the soldiers, who surrendered after mounting a failed mutiny at the financial heart of Manila.

The rebel officers' lawyers charged their clients were being held "incommunicado" at the military intelligence headquarters and expressed fears that their jailors would force them to cough up "incriminatory statements" under duress.

"The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) with the help of the (armed forces) is filing charges of coup d'etat in violation of Article 134-a of the Revised Penal Code against 321 officers and men," NBI chief Reynaldo Wycoco told a congressional inquiry into the coup.

He said similar charges were being filed against Ramon Cardenas, an ex-aide to deposed president Joseph Estrada who was arrested at his home on Monday.

Police said Cardenas' home in a plush village across the street where the siege took place was used by the soldiers as a staging point.

The authorities have raided two other houses used by the mutineers, and are looking for several more suspected hideouts.

"There were over 300 officers and men involved in the mutiny. We believe that these cannot be accommodated in just three houses. It is possible there were other staging areas that were used."

Interior Secretary Jose Lina told the same inquiry that charges were also being prepared against key Estrada ally, Senator Gregorio Honasan, whom he accused of helping the rebels carry out the failed putsch.

Lina said civilian volunteers identified with Honasan had helped man roads in the Makati financial district that allowed the rebels to take over an upscale commercial and residential building.

"It's a matter of time, we are now preparing the charges, we are now on the finishing touches," Lina said.

"Together with the soldiers who will be charged with coup d'etat are also civilians who conspired, confederated and collaborated with the soldiers who mutinied and who participated in the coup d'etat," he said.

Honasan, who in the 1980s led several coup attempts as an army colonel, had earlier denied the allegations.

Meanwhile, the five young officers accused of being the ringleaders of Sunday's attempted coup accused the government of turning its back on a deal forged when they surrendered.

But one of their lawyers, Argee Guevarra, said his clients "have not expressed any regret."

"What they did was correct, according to them," Guevarra said, adding that they welcomed Wednesday's resignation of the military intelligence chief following the mutiny.

"They said that even within prison they will continue their fight," he said.

Guevarra said his clients felt betrayed because the government reneged on a deal to keep them in military barracks after their surrender and for their units to be kept intact.

Another lawyer was trying to find out in which military camps the other mutineers are now detained, Guevarra said.

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