MANILA, Nov 5: Philippine Defence Secretary Avelino Cruz, one of President Gloria Arroyo's most senior aides, resigned suddenly on Sunday, the presidential spokesman said.

“Secretary Cruz has submitted his resignation, but President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is not taking any action,” presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a short statement to the press.

The defence department confirmed Mr Cruz submitted a letter of resignation to Ms Arroyo during a brief meeting earlier in the day.

Mr Cruz could not be independently reached for comment but sources said he had told the president his resignation was “irrevocable”.

Mr Cruz, a successful lawyer before he joined the cabinet, is presiding over the modernisation of the armed forces, a project with major support from Manila's key ally the United States.

The project is aimed at improving the forces' ability to resist communist and Muslim separatist insurgencies.

He is also supervising the prosecution of a number of past and present officers, including at least one general, accused of either plotting a coup against Ms Arroyo or of defrauding the government in military supply contracts.

Before his appointment as defence secretary, Mr Cruz had served as Arroy's chief legal counsel from January 2001 to January 2004.

A close ally of the president, Mr Cruz was seen by many as a man of high principles although reports had been circulating that some cabinet members wanted him out of the government.

There has been speculation in the local media that Mr Cruz was opposed to Arroyo's moves to amend the 1987 constitution to scrap the current presidential system of government and replacing it with a parliamentary system.

One foreign diplomatic said Mr Cruz was highly regarded and was one of the more stabilising forces within her cabinet.

“The question now is what will happen to the military reform programme?”the source asked.--AFP