First Couple hits the greens the day after

President Arroyo and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo took time out to briefly play golf in Makati City yesterday despite the latest attempt to oust her from office and the lingering threats  against the administration.

Officials said the First Couple played golf early in the morning with some officials in the Manila Golf and Country Club, just a few kilometers away from the Peninsula Manila hotel where detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim asked for her resignation Thursday.

Mrs. Arroyo however cancelled her scheduled visit to Clark in Pampanga to lead the opening of the Nayong Pilipino Park. But officials were quick to say that bad weather and not security threat was the reason for the cancellation of the visit.

She later presided over a meeting of the Cabinet security cluster where the outcome of the quelling of the failed uprising was discussed as well as the assessment of the country’s security.

It was formally decided in the meeting that the curfew imposed from midnight Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday would not be reimposed.

The meeting wrapped up as anti-Arroyo protesters massed at the historic Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola) Bridge. The rallyists were met by a phalanx of policemen at the foot of the bridge.

Security remained tight around the Palace complex with metal barriers placed at entrances of roads leading to the area. Members of the Presidential Security Group also subjected vehicles to close inspection.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales warned that there may still be attempts to destabilize the government in the coming days as authorities continue mopping up operations to hunt other supporters of Trillanes.

Gonzales said Mrs. Arroyo will be pushing through with her eight-day trip to Spain and London today since the situation is already returning to normal.

“These (foreign trips) are vital for our international relations,” he said.

Presidential Management Staff chief Secretary Cerge Remonde said Mrs. Arroyo showed her typical calm at the height of the crisis at the Makati Peninsula.

“The President remained in high spirits because she has been receiving a continuing stream of messages and expressions of support locally and as well as from our allies abroad,” Remonde said.

He said the Cabinet was also present in full force at the height of Thursday’s political crisis. - with Marvin Sy