Poe sympathisers plan to stage uprising on July 1

A group of ranking military officers and religious groups will stage an uprising on July 1, if Arroyo is finally proclaimed president on June 30, a source said, adding that their plan is provoke snap elections.

Two generals, one active and another retired, two colonels, four pastors, and two Catholic priests held a meeting to draw up the plot, in a Metro Manila hotel last Monday, said the same source on condition of anonymity.

One of the involved colonels is from the Philippine Air Force. Another is from the elite Presidential Security Group (PSG) which is in charge of the security of President Gloria Arroyo.

The group's plot was codenamed "Oplan Three Kings," said the source, adding that the group has another plan, to create destabilisation earlier, during the counting of votes in Congress, from Pangasinan, in northern Luzon, where actor Fernando Poe Jr. received votes higher than President A.rroyo.

"They are just waiting for a signal" for the alleged coup plot, said the same source. The group has scheduled anti-government protests at the Paseo de Roxas and Ayala Avenue in Makati City, the financial district, to paralyse business in the financial centre until recruits from the province are expected to arrive.

The recruits, poor residents of Manila's East and West Pembo, were reportedly promised P800 to P1,000 ($ 14.54 and $ 18.18) for each day of street protests, that are expected to last three to four days.

Recruitments are going on in Laguna, Rizal, and Cavite in southern Luzon, and in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan in central Luzon.