Philippine defense chief dismisses speculation on coup<\/p>\n
MANILA (Agencies): New Philippine Defense Secretary Eduardo
\nErmita on Sunday dismissed speculation that disgruntled soldiers
\nmight attempt a coup to try and restore deposed president Joseph
\nEstrada to power.<\/p>\n
\"The government is stable and I am confident about this,\"
\nErmita told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"Definitely none,\" he said, when asked about Manila newspaper
\nreports that a small group of disgruntled soldiers was trying to
\nsow disunity in the ranks, if not planning an outright coup.<\/p>\n
New President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took power on Jan. 20
\nafter the Supreme Court declared the presidency vacant, capping
\nfive days of protests by tens of thousands of Filipinos calling
\nfor Estrada's resignation.<\/p>\n
Estrada has said he only temporarily relinquished his powers
\nto Arroyo and referred to her only as an \"acting president,\"
\nsuggesting he might try to re-take the presidency.<\/p>\n
Arroyo named Ermita as acting defense chief after former
\ndefense secretary, Orlando Mercado, resigned in protest against
\nArroyo's appointment as her national security adviser a retired
\ngeneral who Mercado had ordered investigated over pension funds.<\/p>\n
Widespread protests against Estrada broke out earlier this
\nmonth after a Senate impeachment court trying him on corruption
\ncharges suppressed bank records which prosecutors said would have
\nshown that the former movie actor had enriched himself while in
\noffice.<\/p>\n
The impeachment trial was triggered by accusations that
\nEstrada had received millions of dollars in kickbacks from
\nillegal gambling syndicates.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Philippines' main Muslim insurgent group said
\non Sunday it was willing to resume peace talks with Manila on
\ncondition that charges against its leaders were dropped and
\ngovernment troops were removed from its fallen camps.<\/p>\n
Aleem Elias Macarandas, a member of the Moro Islamic
\nLiberation Front's (MILF) peace panel, said the government of
\nnewly installed President Arroyo should grant these demands as a
\ngoodwill gesture.<\/p>\n
Immediately after meeting with her top security advisers in
\nher first day of office, Arroyo ordered a resumption of talks
\nwith the 13,000-strong MILF, which has been waging a two-decade
\nrebellion for an independent Islamic state in the south.<\/p>\n
She had also appointed former military officials to key posts
\nin her government, including Ermita and executive secretary
\nRenato de Villa.<\/p>\n
But Macarandas said government should first pull out its
\nforces from several of its camps that fell last year under
\nEstrada's all out war policy against the rebels.<\/p>\n
He said government prosecutors should also dismiss murder
\ncharges filed against several MILF leaders in connection with a
\nwave of deadly bombings in Manila that killed 22 people.<\/p>\n
\"This should be given back to the MILF and developed into
\nzones of peace,\" Macarandas told local reporters in the southern
\ncity of Iligan. \"The warrants of arrest (against the MILF
\nleaders) will only disrupt any and all kinds of negotiations
\nbecause it will prevent freedom of movement (for MILF
\nnegotiators).\"<\/p>\n
Talks with the MILF collapsed after the fall of their camps,
\nforcing their leaders to declare a jihad or holy war against
\nManila.<\/p>\n
But Macarandas praised Arroyo's appointment of ex-military
\nofficials in her cabinet, saying this could help speed up the
\npeace process because they would be able to give her a \"clear
\nview of the Mindanao situation.\"<\/p>\n
MILF guerrillas have also intensified this month their attacks
\non government installations and army outposts in the central
\nprovinces of the main southern island of Mindanao.<\/p>\n
In the latest attack, MILF guerrillas fired rocket-propelled
\ngrenades into an army command post in the town of Barira in
\nMaguindanao province last Friday, triggering sporadic clashes but
\nno immediate report of casualties on either side.<\/p>",
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