Military honour guards carried former President Corazon Aquino’s flag-draped casket to a school gym today for public viewing, as Filipinos mourned the democracy icon who swept away a dictator and fought off seven coup attempts.

Thousands of Filipinos bid farewell today to the late Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Sin, a beloved spiritual leader who helped rally his nation to hold massive pro-democracy protests that ousted two presidents.

Two Muslim men who were carrying a home-made bomb in a van near the Manila Cathedral and the elections commission office have been arrested, police in the Philippines said today.