Wilson Gamboa, acting spokesman of the Coalition for National Solidarity, said the public reaction to the arrest yesterday of former defense secretary Fortunato Abat is a clear danger sign for the Arroyo government.

The arrest of Abat, who had declared himself president of a "transition government" and had holed up at the Club Filipino in Greenhills since Tuesday, only brings attention to his call for good government, Gamboa said.

Gamboa, who is from Bacolod City, said there was deceit in the arrest of Abad and his companions who were initially told they were only being invited for questioning.

Former ambassador Roy Seneres, head of the justice and security cluster, in Abat's government was also asked to go with police, along with former budget secretary Salvador Enriquez and lawyer Carlos Serapio.

In reaction, the public trooped to Club Filipino to show their support, Gamboa said.

The arrest will lead to what Abat has been calling for, for Arroyo to step down so reforms and clean government can take place in the land, said Gamboa, a former Negros Occidental assemblyman.

He said people should take concrete steps to bring about what they desire as he called on them to rally behind Abat and "do what is necessary."

Gamboa said their group will transfer their headquarters from Club Filipino for security reasons but did not say where.

The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Negros yesterday called the arrest of Abat "political persecution."

"It is pure and simple harassment and persecution of a government critic," Felipe Levy Gelle, Bayan Negros secretary general, said.*CPG

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Abat, 80, was bundled into an unmarked police van and taken in for questioning with two other members of his self-proclaimed cabinet to face possible charges of inciting sedition, the authorities said.

There was no indication that either the military or the public were taking Abat's call to overthrow Arroyo very seriously, although rumors of a coup plot have been rife for weeks in Manila.

"There can only be one president," said police spokesman Leopoldo Bataoil.

Abat had urged the military and the public to support calls for the ouster of Arroyo, who survived an impeachment vote in the legislature in September over allegations she cheated to win the May 2004 presidential election.

Abat failed to rally popular support and the military said they stayed loyal to Arroyo, who survived a military uprising in 2003.

Abat's son, a middle-level officer in the Philippine Army, was relieved of his post as deputy commander of a brigade deployed north of Manila, the military said yesterday.

Col. Victor Abat was accused by superiors of sending mobile telephone text messages that supposedly urged other military officers to join acts of "destabilization" that the military would not specify.

Rumors have swirled in recent days that a new coup plot was being hatched against Arroyo whose approval rating has plunged to record lows due to a six-month campaign from the opposition to oust her.

These rumors have grown after a Marine officer, facing charges for a foiled mutiny against Arroyo in 2003, escaped while being tried in court.

The guards of the military intelligence service who were securing Marine Captain Nicanor Faeldon when he escaped on Wednesday are being investigated, said military spokesman Colonel Tristan Kimson.

Kimson said in a radio interview that investigators were also looking into the possibility that there was an inside job in the escape of Faeldon, one of the six junior officers who led the one-day mutiny in 2003.*AFP

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