STATE OF EMERGENCY

In a preemptive move, President Arroyo declared a state of national emergency yesterday as she struggled with another reported coup plot against her and a possible repeat of the popular uprisings that ousted Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada.

Officials emphasized the declaration, contained in Proclamation 1017, does not give Mrs. Arroyo additional emergency powers although protest rallies were banned and security forces were ordered to "suppress and prevent acts of terrorism and lawless violence."

The President alleged that some members of the political opposition have forged "a tactical alliance" with right-wing and communist forces to bring down her administration.

Three officers from elite military and police units, including a Marine brigadier general and a senior police commander, were rounded up before dawn and at least eight other suspected plotters were being sought by authorities.

Clashes erupted as police used water cannons to disperse about 5,000 protesters who defied the ban on street rallies at the EDSA Shrine in Mandaluyong City.

In her one-page emergency proclamation, Mrs. Arroyo invoked her constitutional powers to "maintain law and order" and to "prevent or suppress all forms of lawless violence as well as any act of insurrection or rebellion."

"I declare a state of emergency because of clear and present danger to the republic that we uncovered and thwarted," a stern Mrs. Arroyo said in a taped, nationally televised statement.

She said the political opposition, communist guerrillas and right-wing "military adventurists" were "now in a tactical alliance and engaged in a concerted and systematic conspiracy, over a broad front, to bring down the duly constituted government elected in May 2004."

The proclamation said the conspiracy constitutes "a clear and present danger to the safety and the integrity of the Philippine state and of the Filipino people."

"This is my warning against those who threaten the government: the whole weight of the law will fall on your treason. You are unhinging the economy from its strengthening pillars."

Mrs. Arroyo held a pre-dawn emergency meeting of the National Security Council as the crisis threatened to spiral out of control.

In her televised address, she said the plotters attempted to turn the military against her.

"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," she said. "We crushed this attempt."

Yesterday, the military barricaded its camps to keep troops from joining anti-Arroyo demonstrations.

The military has had a history of restiveness and played key roles in the uprisings against Marcos in 1986 and Estrada in 2001.

"As commander-in-chief, I am in control of the situation," Mrs. Arroyo declared. "My countrymen, I ask all of you to remain calm."

She indicated civilians might be part of the plot as well. "We will not overlook those who have been providing support and money to this effort."

Mrs. Arroyo stopped short of declaring martial law — a sensitive issue in a country where Marcos used it to rule by decree with an iron fist.

Right to declare

Vice President Noli de Castro said Mrs. Arroyo had a right to declare a state of emergency "in order to preserve the peace, maintain law and order, and ensure the protection of human rights and civil liberties of the people for as long as there is an imminent threat to public safety."

"I urge everyone to rally behind the Constitution. Only by adhering to it will we be assured of the continued enjoyment of our freedom and our democratic way of life," De Castro said in a brief statement. "I reaffirm my support to the people, the Constitution and the duly constituted authorities."

The latest political crisis in the Philippines took place on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Feb. 25, 1986 people power uprising that toppled Marcos after 20 years in power.

In January 2001, Mrs. Arroyo, who was then vice president, was sworn in after her immediate predecessor, Estrada, was toppled by a similar popular uprising. Estrada is currently on trial for corruption.

This is the second time that Mrs. Arroyo has declared a state of national emergency.

The first was in May 2001, just months after Mrs. Arroyo assumed office, when thousands of Estrada loyalists tried to storm the presidential palace and reinstate him. Since then the Arroyo administration has been leery of large rallies.

No curfew

Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said the declaration will not include a curfew but does ban rallies, allows arrest without a warrant, permits the president to call in the military to intervene and lets her take over facilities — including media outlets — that may threaten national security.

"We continue to take steps to protect the state of republic and fight all elements, not only from the military, but also from civilians, businessmen and political leaders who want to create chaos in the midst of the country’s economic recovery," he told a press briefing.

Lawyers said the declaration of "a state of national emergency" was not equivalent to martial law and essentially allows Mrs. Arroyo to use the military to maintain law and order as well as quell a rebellion. The normal judicial system remains in place.

Press freedom would also remain but reporters may be prevented from writing stories that may compromise national security.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Antonio Nachura and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the emergency proclamation — unlike martial law — does not need prior congressional approval and is merely a statement of fact.

Mrs. Arroyo’s order to the military to quell a rebellion and prevent lawlessness is well within her powers as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, they said.

Anti-Arroyo protests would be dispersed by police but pro-government rallies would be allowed. "The anti (rallies) will be dispersed because you can put them on the same footing with those who are calling for the ouster of the President," said Gonzalez.

Immediately after the President’s address, left-wing demonstrators defied the ban on rallies and vowed to challenge the legality of the emergency proclamation.

The opposition railed against the declaration, saying it showed the government’s desperation.

"It could result in more political hemorrhage and security risk," said Parañaque City Rep. Roilo Golez, Mrs. Arroyo’s former national security adviser who earlier withdrew support from her. "This could get out of control... if her crisis team doesn’t manage this well."

Rep. Teodoro Casiño, of the party-list group Bayan, called the declaration "draconian" and said it was evidence that the government was headed toward "iron-handed rule."

"This could lead to a crackdown... against the opposition forces even if they’re not engaged in any illegal activity," said Casiño.

Former Arroyo Cabinet officials and advisers known as the "Hyatt 10," who resigned last year following allegations that Mrs. Arroyo cheated in the 2004 presidential election, called the emergency declaration the "biggest blow to our democracy," saying it would have a "chilling effect on our people’s exercise of their basic rights."

The Philippine stock market and the peso both plunged after the declaration.

US State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus said: "We are monitoring the situation carefully. We firmly support the rule of law and constitutional government. Violence should be avoided."

Armed Forces chief Gen. Generoso Senga and the commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force quickly went on television to declare support for Mrs. Arroyo and reassure the public that everything is under control.

Security forces have arrested an Army general who led an elite special forces unit for alleged involvement in a coup plot and ensured that a Marine colonel was in his barracks. "We have reduced the threat," Senga said. "We cannot say that it has been stopped."

Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon has said 14 junior officers were identified as being involved in a plot that included establishing a revolutionary government after Mrs. Arroyo was forcibly removed and abolishing "democratic institutions."

An unspecified number of other people also were taken into custody, and police were seeking more, said Defensor.

A military statement said Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, the commander of the Philippine Army’s elite Scout Rangers, had been taken into custody along with Chief Superintendent Narzalino Franco, head of the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force, whose rank is equivalent to brigadier general.

Lim had been involved in a bloody 1989 coup attempt against former President Corazon Aquino but was promoted after he and other rebel officers were pardoned as part of efforts to heal divisions in the 120,000-strong armed forces.

The Scout Rangers and Marines are regarded as the toughest soldiers in the Philippines and are often at the frontlines of campaigns against communist rebels and Muslim separatists. The Special Action Force, meanwhile, is a crack police commando force.

Already-tight security was ratcheted even tighter in Metro Manila. Commemorations of the 20th EDSA anniversary were canceled. The government told schools to call off classes, aiming to keep the opposition from exploiting the scheduled people power assemblies.

Palace secured

Extra barbed wire and container vans were set up on roads leading to Malacañang and only essential staff were allowed in.

Armored personnel carriers were posted at roads leading to the Palace and the Presidential Security Group scoured the grounds for bombs.

Reporters covering Malacañang were limited to the presidential Guest House outside the Palace complex.

Checkpoints appeared around the capital. Reporters were barred from the main military headquarters, Camp Aguinaldo, where reinforcements arrived in eight armored personnel carriers. An armored personnel carrier sat outside the Marines’ camp, with a truckload of Marines in full battle gear nearby.

Civilian gun owners were told to keep their firearms at home.

Police already were on high alert nationwide as widespread reports of a coup plot had been circulating for more than a week; even elementary school students were discussing it in detail.

The unusual security measures included efforts to shift Estrada from a hospital in San Juan where he had been taken for eye surgery on Friday back to his house detention in Tanay, Rizal.

He is currently on trial for corruption. Estrada refused to leave the hospital, citing a court order authorizing his surgery.

Mrs. Arroyo survived three impeachment bids in September, when her dominant allies in the House of Representatives used a technicality to block complaints of alleged massive corruption and vote rigging in the May 2004 presidential election.

She has been locked in a protracted battle since then with opposition groups that continue to call for her resignation.

The ongoing political crisis is the worst to hound Mrs. Arroyo since she assumed the presidency in 2001, raising fears that the military might step in to resolve the impasse. — With AP, AFP, Aurea Calica, Paolo Romero, Jose Rodel Clapano, Edu Punay