President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday met military and police officers, election officials and representatives of various political parties, in a bid to halt a campaign by alleged coup plotters to stall the elections on May 14. A manifesto was signed for honest, orderly and peaceful congressional and local government elections.

The meeting was prompted by reports from intelligence sources that said the opposition would "attack government facilities and create anarchy and fear to give the impression that the present Government cannot handle the situation".

Three self-confessed plotters said the plot, dubbed 'Operation Plan No Elections', or Noel, would allegedly involve the bombing of Manila's international airport, two elevated trains system, an oil depot and two ports.

They added that recent bomb blasts at Caloocan's Ever Gotesco and Quezon City's Farmers, and the burning of San Juan's Greenhills Shopping Centre were part of the plot.

National Capital Region Police Director Edgardo Aglipay said: "We anticipate forces supporting deposed president Joseph Estrada to engage in violence to disrupt the holding of peaceful elections. It's to their advantage if it does not push through."

He did not say if pro-Estrada supporters were behind the so-called plot. The opposition vehemently denied responsibility in the alleged plot, and called it part of ruling party propaganda.

Aglipay cautioned: "Election-related violence is expected to rise in certain areas. This is due to private armed groups and other organisations like the communist New People's Army, the Mindanao-based Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and Jolo's Abu Sayyaf which support congressional and local government candidates."

A total of 38 people were killed and 54 wounded in election-related violence between March and May, said Aglipay. Thirty-eight people lost their lives in the 1998 polls, and 42 died in 1995.

"Perfectly, ideally and theoretically we are not ready for the elections, but we are prepared," said Alfredo Benipayo, Commissions on Elections Chief. He cited reports about ballots for sale and said: "They are not valid ballots and will not be recognised."

Benipayo also ordered as null and void the recent ruling of judges in Mindanao, to include 29,000 voters on the list of certified voters. "The judges have no jurisdiction over the issue," he said.