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Security officials said Thursday they had uncovered a plot by Islamic militants linked to the Al-Qaeda network to assassinate President Arroyo.

Presidential Security Guards chief, Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza, said Mrs. Arroyo had been informed of the threat, which forced her to cancel a scheduled trip Friday to the northern resort city of Baguio.

Security forces in the Philippines were placed on full alert.

The announcement came a day a head of a major rally by political opponents of Mrs. Arroyo to demand her resignation over allegations of corruption linking the First family.

Prestoza said the intelligence community discovered the assassination plot as early as last week.

Prestoza said the plot was hatched by "extremists Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and the Abu Sayyaf Group," referring to Muslim militant groups with reported links to Al-Qaeda.

"It is not just the President, there are other targets," he told reporters. "If they want to launch it, they can do it anytime."

He said the plan did not appear to be connected to the opposition rally at the Makati business district in Manila, planned for Friday.

He added that with this development Mrs. Arroyo’s security group is now studying the possibility of cancelling the other out-of-town trips of the President especially in areas where it would be hard to secure her.

Armed Forces chief General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said news of the plan "had become the basis of our action for putting the Armed Forces of the Philippines in full state of preparedness."

He said elements composed of militants from Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah were also planning to hit "high-value targets" around Manila.

Both groups, which have been blamed for the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines in recent years, are known to operate on the southern island of Mindanao.

The two groups are, however, known to field "cells" responsible for bombings around Manila in the past as well.

Intelligence reports also showed that rogue elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front would try to take advantage of the situation in Metro Manila and attempt to bomb key installations, the military chief said.

Esperon also denied reports that the military is discouraging people from attending Friday’s rally. He also assured that Armed Forces personnel would not participate in the street demonstration or any destabilization attempt.

Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano, commanding general of the Philippine Army, also maintained that the military would remain insulated from politics amid fresh allegations of corruption against Mrs. Arroyo’s government.

Earlier Thursday, Army spokesman Captain Carlo Ferrer cited intelligence reports that elements from the communist New People's Army (NPA) rebel group may infiltrate the ranks of protesters Friday and instigate violence.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a Maoist rebellion since 1969.

Mrs. Arroyo's critics have been holding daily protests around Manila calling on her to resign over fresh claims that her husband and a political ally tried to get millions of dollars in kickbacks from a telecoms deal with a Chinese firm.

The $329-million deal for a national broadband network with China's state-run ZTE has since been cancelled by the President.

Some business groups have warned that the scandal could plunge the country into a new round of political instability and dampen investor confidence.

Leaders of the influential Roman Catholic Church, business leaders and even lawyers' groups have expressed support for the protest planned in the Makati business district.

The presidential palace has called for calm amid the turmoil and challenged Mrs. Arroyo's opponents to file charges in court.

On Thursday, US envoy to Manila Kristie Kenney said any protest should be put in the "framework of the constitution and the rule of law."

She, however, said the "right to public protest to express views and opinions is fundamental to all of us.

"It's important for government and for the private sectors to see that," Kenney said. With Reports from Agence France-Presse and Nadia Trinidad and Jay Ruiz, ABS-CBN News


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