THE PHILIPPINES: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared emergency rule in the Philippines yesterday after the military said it had foiled a coup attempt, but analysts criticised the move as unwarranted and potentially damaging to the economy.
Talk of plots against Mrs 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 past 20 years, but some analysts say Mrs 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 was 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.
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," Mrs Arroyo said in a taped address.
She described a "systematic conspiracy" by members of the opposition, communist groups and "military adventurists" to bring down her government.
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 Mrs 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".
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, an influential force in the mainly Roman Catholic country, appealed for "prudence, sobriety, patience and vigilance".
The US embassy, Manila's closest ally, called for respect for the law and rejection of violence.
Mrs Arroyo has pushed reforms to improve revenues, reduce corruption and cut debt. However, she has been plagued by the allegations of wrongdoing, which led to a failed impeachment attempt in September by her foes in the lower house of congress.
Last week the army said it had uncovered a plot that would have involved a mass escape of officers on trial over a failed mutiny in 2003, the ousting of Mrs Arroyo and the creation of a military junta.
Yesterday armed forces chief Gen Generoso Senga said the commander of the elite Scout Rangers regiment had been detained as the leader of troops who planned to join anti-Arroyo rallies.
The army said the rogue soldiers were planning to tell the protesters they were withdrawing support from the president, hoping to spark an uprising against Mrs Arroyo.
The Scout Rangers commander, Brig Gen Danilo Lim, had been detained previously over a 1989 coup attempt.