BY JP LOPEZ

SENATE minority leader Aquilino Pimentel yesterday challenged police and military officials to arrest coup plotters to prove there is really a serious attempt to overthrow the Arroyo government.

Pimentel said the Armed Forces is claiming the supposed new power grab attempt is serious but could not present solid proof.

"If the destabilization plot is real, they should pinpoint the personalities behind it and apprehend them," he said.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez has said there would be moves to destabilize the government between January 17 and January 22 during protest rallies.

The police and the military have raised their security alerts for the seventh anniversary of Edsa 2 Sunday and mass actions for today’s 21st anniversary of the "Mendiola massacre" in which 13 peasants were killed on Mendiola bridge.

Pimentel said it is irresponsible of defense and security officials to blabber about an alleged plot to overthrow the government without any factual basis.

"For if this is just a product of propaganda spin masters, you could imagine the damage it has inflicted on the country in the eyes of the international community, specially in terms of scaring away investors and tourists," he said.

Pimentel said Malacañang and military and security authorities could not even agree on what groups are involved in the supposed coup plot, with some of them pointing to the Magdalo group of soldiers that staged the 2003 Oakwood mutiny and others to the Communist Party-New People’s Army.

Pimentel expressed dismay that an alleged intelligence report made public by Gonzalez considered the Mendiola massacre commemoration as part of a plot against the Arroyo government.

The government, he said, is over-panicking. He said the farmers are merely exercising their right to peacefully assemble and seek redress of grievances in the face of unresolved land conflicts, extra-judicial killings of militant farmer-leaders and other acts of injustice.

‘GLORIA UNDER CONTROL’

Pimentel said the fact that President Arroyo is pushing ahead with her trip to Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates from today to January 28 implies that even Malacañang does not believe she is in danger of being toppled through a coup.

"Some generals are the ones trying to create an atmosphere of instability to keep the President hostage. Simply stated, they want to keep the President under their control," he said.

Pimentel said it is clear that the alleged coup try is just a ploy to suit the self-serving agenda of some generals bent on keeping the President beholden to them.

"Under the circumstances, the loud and furious moves of the Armed Forces to demonstrate its power merely show that the President is no longer in control. It is she who is under the control of some generals," he said.

POLICE DEPLOYMENT

The PNP is deploying around 3,000 policemen around Metro Manila for the mass actions starting at 5 a.m. today. The bulk – 1,500 to 2,000 – will be deployed in Mendiola where the main protest actions are expected to be held.

The PNP on Sunday placed on "full alert" police in four regions – Metro Manila, Central and Southern Luzon, Mimaropa (Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan) – and the Special Action Force.

The Presidential Security Group will be on high alert today.

All entrance and exit points at the Malacañang complex will be sealed, said PSG commander Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza.

3,000 PROTESTERS

Director Geary Barias, Metro Manila police chief, said police expect only around 3,000 as against the 10,000 projected by rally organizers.

He said people are tired of joining protest actions and would rather stay home and watch the event on television.

Organizers said they expect around 5,000 members of farmers groups in Luzon to proceed to Mendiola.

Carl Ala, spokesman of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, said farmers from Central Luzon, the Cordillera region, Ilocos provinces and KMP’s Bicol chapter are already gathered at the Department of Agrarian Reform central office in Quezon City. They will march to Mendiola today.

Among other farmers organizations expected to go to Mendiola are Kasama TK from Southern Tagalog, Alyansang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas from Central Luzon, Apit-Tako from the Cordillera Region, Stop-Ex from the Ilocos region and the Bicol chapter of the KMP.

KMP chapters in Cebu and Davao will hold coordinated protest marches.

P500 PAYMENT?

The military’s National Capital Region Command said rally organizers are reportedly paying as much as P500 each to entice people, particularly in depressed areas in Metro Manila, to join the protest rallies.

Maj. Gen. Fernando Mesa, NCRcom chief, would not give names.

"We have monitored them since last week," Mesa said, adding the recruitment could be part of a new destabilization move.

While there are ongoing efforts to recruit officers and enlisted personnel to overthrow the Arroyo government, Mesa said he is optimistic no military personnel will join to make up the armed component of the destabilization move.

INFILTRATION

Mesa said the group of escaped mutiny leader Capt. Nicanor Faeldon might take advantage of the mass actions to destabilize government.

Mesa said the NPA might infiltrate the ranks of the protesters. He said he is not discounting the possibility that the ranks of the rallyists are already infiltrated.

"As what I have said before, the CPP-NPA is out to make destabilization and their intention really is to oust the President and eventually topple the government," he said.

The NCRcom has been on red alert since yesterday morning.

"We are complementing the efforts of the PNP to ensure that tomorrow’s activity of the protesters will be peaceful," Mesa said.

ARRESTS

Mesa said that on the request of the Metro Manila police, he has ordered the deployment of more than 100 soldiers to augment the police manning checkpoints that have been set up in the metropolis.

PNP chief Avelino Razon said arrests would be made if protesters start to create trouble, block traffic and destroy property.

He said the right to assemble is not absolute. "If it infringes sa right ng ibang tao, ipagbabawal natin yan."

Barias ordered the activation of "Metro Manila Shield" and reminded protest organizers to secure rally permits.

He urged protesters to police their ranks and said the police would also be on the lookout for infiltrators.

MAXIMUM TOLERANCE

Barias said the police would strictly enforce the "no permit, no rally" policy although they would exercise maximum tolerance.

"They can always air their grievances in public but they must do within the confines of the rule of law," he said.

He said some policemen assigned in rally sites would be carrying video cameras for footage which would be used as evidence to charge protesters violating the law.

Members of the civil disturbance management units will be armed with only nightsticks.

Senate majority leader Francis Pangilinan said instead of downplaying Edsa 2, national leaders should revisit its failed promise.

"We now hear so many people saying that Edsa 2… the call for an accountable and upright government is not a letdown. It is leadership that failed us. Seven years after, we are still dealing with the same issues of corruption, bribery, extra-judicial killings and poverty," he said. – With Raymond Africa, Job Realubit, Victor Reyes, and Jocelyn Montemayor