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Saturday, February 25, 2006
State of emergency
MANILA - Riot police violently dispersed thousands of anti-government protesters demanding the ouster of President Arroyo, soon after she declared a state of emergency yesterday.
She said her administration had quashed a coup plot but that the country still faced “a clear threat” from “treasonous forces.”
Clashes erupted as riot police used water cannons to disperse about 5,000 protesters defying a ban on rallying at the shrine to the 1986 “People Power” uprising.
Several protesters were taken into custody, including political commentator Randy David, who was later released after prosecutors found no basis to charge him with sedition or illegal assembly.
Philippine stocks fell yesterday, spooked by the heightened worries of a coup attempt. The peso ended at its lowest level in nearly a month.
“There’s uncertainty in the market right now given the declaration of a state of emergency. Investors will just have to get a feel of the market for a while,” said DA Market Securities President Nestor Aguila.
The dollar finished at P52.20 on the Philippine Dealing System, up from P51.66 on Thursday.
Cory speaks
The melee started when the protesters tried to remove iron grills barricading the highway to join their leaders, who were negotiating with police officers. Police charged the protesters with fiberglass shields and clubs.
The protesters scattered with police in pursuit.
Former president Corazon Aquino, a close Arroyo ally who has turned against her, condemned the dispersal and arrests.
“This is really shocking,” Aquino said. “It’s really a pity to lose our democracy again.”
Aquino led another protest yesterday afternoon in Makati, despite the government crackdown on public protests.
Amid a massive security clampdown, the military barricaded its camps to keep troops from joining the demonstrations and detained Brig. General Danilo Lim, head of the elite Scout Rangers, for his alleged involvement in the takeover plot.
Warning
While she vowed she was in control, Arroyo clearly was worried about losing her grip on events as her opponents tried to hijack the Edsa anniversary activities.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye told reporters that Edsa commemorations have been canceled and that the military was ordered “to prevent and suppress lawless violence.”
“I am declaring a state of emergency because of the clear threat to the nation,” President Arroyo said in a taped, nationally televised statement.
“This is my warning against those who threaten the government: the whole weight of the law will fall on your treason.”
Appealing for calm, she claimed the military had quashed a coup plot by some military officers and their men.
“There were a few who tried to break from the armed forces chain of command, to fight the civilian government and establish a regime outside the Constitution,” said Arroyo, who held a pre-dawn emergency meeting of her national security council.
“We crushed this attempt.”
Sacrifice
Aquino, in criticizing the emergency declaration, reiterated a call for Arroyo to “make the supreme sacrifice” and resign.
The opposition said the declaration showed the government’s desperation.
“It could result in more political hemorrhage and security risk,” said Rep. Roilo Golez, Arroyo’s former national security adviser, who withdrew support from her. “This could get out of control if her crisis team doesn’t manage this well.”
But military chiefs said they backed Arroyo. They arrested an unspecified number of people, including Lim, for alleged involvement in a coup plot.
“We have reduced the threat,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Generoso Senga said. “We cannot say that it has been stopped.”
Barbed wire and container vans blocked access to Malacañang, and only essential staff were allowed in.
Military camps were sealed off, and checkpoints appeared around the capital.
Locked in
Police already were on heightened alert nationwide as widespread reports of a coup plot have been circulating for more than a week.
The unusual security measures included efforts to shift former president Joseph Estrada—ousted by a second “People Power” revolt in 2001—from a hospital where he was taken for eye surgery yesterday back to house detention.
Estrada refused to leave the hospital.
President Arroyo also cancelled her scheduled trips to Southern Leyte, Butuan City and Boracay Island in Aklan. Apart from issuing her statement at 10:45 a.m., spent most of the day in meetings with key advisers.
Classes at all levels in Metro Manila were suspended, and work in offices inside the Malacañang compound was also cancelled.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. said President Arroyo will soon issue an executive order declaring a gun ban for 15 days.
The order involves the suspension of permits to carry firearms outside homes and offices.
In a Cabinet press conference late yesterday afternoon, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo Antonio Nachura said the declaration of a national emergency is “simply a declaration of a state of fact” in the country.
There is no need to worry about violations of human rights because warrantless arrests are confined to the Rules of Court and for use in cases of continuing offenses, he added. (AP/Sunnex)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 25, 2006 issue)
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