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Manila: The government has uncovered an alleged plot by Al Qaida-linked militants to assassinate President Gloria Arroyo, officials said on Thursday.
Brigadier General Romeo Prestoza, head of the Presidential Security Group, said "other people" and foreign embassies were also targets of planned terror bombings.
Military chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon said the plot was allegedly hatched by the extremist Abu Sayyaf group and its Indonesia-based ally, Jemaah Islamiyah.
"We now have a report on an active attempt on the life of the president herself," Esperon said.
The alleged plot involved a sniper shooting the president, Esperon said. The plot was a "rolling plan [and] if they could get a hit, then they will," he said.
Arroyo's planned visit to the Philippines' premier military academy this weekend was cancelled because of the revelations, Prestoza said.
Opposition groups dismissed the plot allegation as part of the government's "scare tactics," along with a military announcement that security forces were on high alert because of an alleged communist rebel plan to infiltrate anti-Arroyo protests scheduled for today.
"Obviously this is a very desperate tactic to create an atmosphere of terror and scare people to prevent them from joining the protest actions," said Renato Reyes, one of the protest organisers.
"They are just recycling their scare tactics every time there is a big protest rally." Esperon denied the government revealed the alleged plot to discourage participation in the planned protest.
"We are simply acting as security forces and so we have deemed it necessary that we come out in the open about our assessment of the situation," Esperon said.
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Political tensions have increased since the dramatic emergence last week of a corruption witness, former government consultant Rodolfo Lozada Junior, who linked an ex-elections chief and Arroyo's husband to an allegedly overpriced $330 million (Dh1.2 billion) government broadband contract - a contract that the president has since cancelled.
Both men have denied the allegations, and Arroyo has not spoken directly about her husband's alleged involvement.
Prestoza said police uncovered the assassination plot last week.
"It's not only the president who is the target, but also other people and embassies," he said without offering specifics.
Obviously this is a very desperate tactic to create an atmosphere of terror and scare people to prevent them from joining the protest actions."
Renato Reyes
Protest organiser
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