MANILA, Feb 24: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared emergency rule in the Philippines on Friday after the military said it foiled a coup attempt, but analysts criticised the move as unwarranted and potentially damaging to the economy.
Talk of plots against Arroyo, who survived a crisis last year over allegations of vote-rigging and corruption, has been running high around this week’s anniversary of the 1986 “people power” revolt that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
“While we may have nipped it in the bud, there is still clear and present danger,” chief of staff Michael Defensor said.
He said eight to 10 politicians and military officers were believed to be behind the plot but did not identify them.
Sources in the security forces said the alleged financiers and plotters included deposed president Joseph Estrada, former colonel and senator Gregorio Honasan, former budget secretary Salvador Enriquez, a former nun and five retired officers.
There have been a dozen coup attempts in the Philippines in the past 20 years but some analysts say Arroyo’s government plays up threats to ward off would-be plotters and win public sympathy.
“The government is overreacting,” said Earl Parreno of the Institute of Political and Electoral Reform.
Security forces were on full alert and the presidential palace fortified with sandbags, shipping containers and tanks.
Police used fire hoses and batons to disperse about 5,000 protesters, including nuns and priests, near a shrine that was a focal point of the anti-Marcos revolt and another in 2001 that ousted Estrada. The demonstrators fought back and threw stones.
In the capital’s Makati financial district, riot police moved in to break up a rally by about 5,000 protesters who had chanted anti-Arroyo slogans peacefully for several hours.
WARNING: Emergency rule, which allows arrests without warrants and an extension of detention without charge, is a very sensitive issue in the Philippines after nine years of martial law under Marcos.
“This is my warning to those conspiring against the country — the full force of the law will fall on your betrayal,” Arroyo said in a taped address.
In her proclamation, she described a “systematic conspiracy” by members of the opposition, communist groups and “military adventurists” to bring down her government.
Executive orders do not require approval by Congress.
The telecommunications regulator told local broadcasters to avoid bias and reporting on sensitive military details, warning it could exercise its seldom-used power to shut them down.
Military commanders and Arroyo’s allies backed her move but senators and human rights lawyers demanded it be revoked. Gilbert Remulla, an opposition leader in the lower house of Congress, said the government was “creating chaos and confusion”.—Reuters
