GMA: I can deal with threats

With peace and order restored in Metro Manila, Pre-sident Arroyo said yesterday she can deal with any threats to her government.

Military and police reinforcements deployed at Malacañang are being gradually pulled out. About 3,000 additional soldiers and policemen have been deployed in Metro Manila since Tuesday.

"Right now, it is quiet around the country and we are doing mopping-up operations against the leaders of the violent attack on May 1," the President said in a radio interview.

She also assured the people that she will lift tomorrow the "state of rebellion" she declared on Tuesday at the height of the attack on the Palace by supporters of former President Joseph Estrada. The riots left at least four people dead and some 100 others injured.

"There are still threats, but we will be able to address them in the regular manner," she said.

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said the other day that "we are over the hump"and that the number of additional soldiers and policemen deployed in Metro Manila to quell the rioting will be reduced in the coming days as stability returns.

He also said Mrs. Arroyo is "firmly in the saddle."

Armed Forces chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva said they have started relaxing security measures.

"Manila is really very stable," Villanueva said.

However, the troops would continue conducting patrols to ward off any potential threats to the government. "We can never say there is really no threat," Villanueva added.

He also belied rumors that some ranking military officials were willing to join the coup plotters.

"The Armed Forces is really solid and there’s no division in the ranks especially among organizations (so) perhaps, they will have to think twice before they can even approach our soldiers," Villanueva said.

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said the assault was part of an opposition plot to overthrow the government and set up a junta after assassinating both Mrs. Arroyo and Estrada.

Perez revealed earlier that the police have at least two witnesses to the alleged assassination plot.

Police were still conducting mopping up operations against suspected leaders of the pro-Estrada mob that stormed the Palace.

Intelligence agents were also tracking down opposition Sen. Gregorio Honasan and former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Panfilo Lacson for alleged involvement in the plot to overthrow the government.

Honasan and Lacson were classmates at the elite Philippine Military Academy, graduating in 1971.

Honasan, then an Army colonel, led a series of coup attempts against the government of President Corazon Aquino, while Lacson once headed the controversial Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force recently dismantled by Mrs. Arroyo.

Both were given until Friday midnight to surrender or be declared fugitives.

Honasan said he had no intentions of turning himself in since the arrest order against him was illegal, adding he was ready to be killed by the arresting team.

In another interview, however, he said he would not resist arrest.

On the other hand, Lacson has reportedly sent surrender feelers.

Suspected coup plotters so far arrested are Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, former Ambassador to Washington Ernesto Maceda, Chief Superintendent Victor Batac and Superintendent Diosdado Valeroso.

Enrile and Maceda questioned their warrantless arrest before the Supreme Court, arguing that there was no such thing as "state of rebellion."

Also tagged as for alleged complicity in the coup plot was Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, although Perez said there was no arrest order against her in deference to a petition she filed before the court.

Arroyo accused the opposition leaders of exploiting the anger of the pro-Estrada supporters, and instigating them to lay siege on the Palace.

"They were used as baits by the power grabbers and then abandoned like Pontius Pilate," the President said.

Meanwhile, Malacañang said expressions of support to the President’s handling of the worst crisis to hit her administration flooded the Palace.

"These expressions of support have been coming to Malacañang through fax, mailed messages, e-mail, letters to the editor and published interviews.

"Earlier, the President"s decisive action following the failed power grab also received the support of the US Embassy and Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin," a Malacañang statement said. — Marichu Villanueva