Threat to Arroyo 'has diminished'

The former chief of the military's intelligence service yesterday said that the threat of overthrowing President Gloria Arroyo from disgruntled sectors in the armed forces had diminished.

Speaking to newsmen in northern Baguio City, Army Brigadier Victor Corpuz, former chief of the Intelligence Service in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and now head of the Forces Civil Relations Group (AFPCRS), explained that coup plotters would find it difficult to seize power because the government already had in its custody those involved in the failed July 27 mutiny in Makati City.

All 57 officers involved in the Oakwood mutiny are presently detained inside the military headquarters of Camp Aguinaldo in Manila's suburb of Quezon City.

Prior to his appointment to the top AFPCRS post, Corpus had been linked by officers who launched the July 27 mutiny to a plot to sow terror in southern Philippines.

Fears of another military coup linger despite the failure of the July 27 mutiny which was blunted by the lack of support and timely action from authorities who called for the arrest of ring leaders the night before the plot took place.

The July 27 foiled mutiny, Corpuz said, had been planned a long time ago. "You cannot plan, mobilise and recruit people for a coup overnight," he explained.

Corpuz said that he was lodging criminal complaints against the group of young mutinous officers for linking him with alleged corruption in the military.