MANILA, April 13 (Reuters) - The Philippines' top security officials said on Sunday nine officers jailed this week for attempting to overthrow President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2003 should be pardoned.

"These junior officers were led astray by wrong beliefs but have realized their grave mistakes," General Hermogenes Esperon, head of the armed forces, said in a statement.

"They are very talented soldiers and we would like to give them another chance to help the country move forward."

The Defence Secretary said he had recommended to Arroyo that she pardon the officers, two of whom were jailed for life on Tuesday.

"I believe it is equally important in achieving national peace to reach out to these convicted junior officers who have shown remorse for their illegal acts and expressed desire to return to the folds of law," said Gilberto Teodoro.

A regional trial court sentenced two army captains to life in prison and sent seven other young officers to lesser jail terms of up to 12 years on Tuesday for taking over a plush apartment block during the failed 2003 mutiny, one of many coup plots hatched in the Southeast Asian country.

The nine officers suddenly changed their pleas to guilty last week sparking speculation that they had done so to qualify for executive clemency.

They held a news conference this week, some of them in tears, apologising to the president and the public for their actions.

Philippine governments have traditionally taken a soft line against military adventurists for fear of stirring up further trouble. In 1987, mutineers were given 20 push-ups as punishment for a botched mutiny attempt.

Coup plots are common in the Philippines, where soldiers have been instrumental in the overthrow of two presidents, and there have been over a dozen attempts at sedition since Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in 1986. (Reporting by Manny Mogato; editing by Carmel Crimmins and Bill Tarrant)

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