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Philippines coup leaders arrested

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: Uneasy calm prevailed in Manila on Saturday, even as the military and police firmed up measures under the emergency declared on Friday by Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. There was no indication of any major confrontation between the authorities and the Opposition activists in Manila until nightfall.

The rallies and functions planned by both the authorities and the Opposition activists, in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the triumph of "people power" strategy, remained banned under the new crisis-regulations. Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said on Saturday that the political buzz about an impending imposition of martial law had "no basis" at all.

At least three top-ranking officers - the independent heads of two elite military units and the chief of a special police action force - were identified as the suspected ring leaders of a coup "plot" against Ms. Arroyo. They were relieved from service and arrested on Friday before she proclaimed emergency and claimed that their coup-bid had been "crushed." The chiefs of all three military wings and the police force pledged their loyalty to the President after her televised proclamation of emergency.

While these arrests were officially confirmed, independent observers said an Opposition Congressman belonging to a left-of-centre coalition, was nabbed on Saturday. The offices of an anti-Arroyo newspaper were also reported to have been sealed. The authorities cast their net wide, with some retired military officers too coming under the scanner. Some other ring-leaders were said to be flying under the radar and evading detection, but details remained unconfirmed.

For several months now, Ms. Arroyo has been fighting a battle for political survival over the allegations of electoral fraud by her in 2004 and of corrupt practices by her family members. She first became the unelected President in 2001, on the basis of mass rallies against an elected leader, Joseph Estrada, now under house arrest on corruption charges.

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