President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo may give up her emergency powers as early as Saturday if there is no longer a national security threat after a failed coup plot, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said yesterday.

The announcement was made amid mounting protests in Negros Occidental and in other parts of the country against Proclamation 1017 issued by Arroyo Friday to crush what she described as an alliance of communist rebels and "military adventurists" aimed at toppling her.

Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra said a prayer rally for the nation is planned to be held at the Bacolod public plaza on March 8, and concerned citizens and members of the clergy in Negros are set to issue a statement opposing Proclamation 1017.

Navarra told the DAILY STAR that 1017 is undemocratic because it curtails the rights of the people.

Many lawyers have also expressed the opinion that it is unconstitutional, he said.

Teves told reporters in Manila yesterday that Arroyo's security advisers will meet Saturday to assess the situation again to determine if the declaration of the state of national emergency can be lifted. "We'll see if there will be a decision by Saturday," he added.

"It is possible there will be changes by then," Teves said.

A group of lawyers are also challenging Arroyo's emergency powers in the Supreme Court, which yesterday ordered the government to explain the basis for the emergency proclamation at a hearing scheduled for March 7.

Bayan Negros secretary general Felipe Levy Gelle Jr. yesterday condemned the arrest list of the Department of Justice calling it a tool "for the persecution of the vocal anti-Arroyo opposition leaders and critics."

The state of emergency is being used to silence, imprison and harass the progressive party-list and organizations, he said.

"The recent violent dispersals, the ban of rallies and public demonstrations, the raid on the press, the warrantless arrests and threats of more arrests bring vivid images of those days under the Marcos dictatorship," he said.

The National Federation of Sugar Workers called on everybody to join the struggle to uphold freedom and democracy.

The Partido ng Manggagawa called for the lifting of the state of emergency now.

MALACAÑANG DEFENDS
PROCLAMATION 1017

But Malacañang yesterday said the government will never use Proclamation 1017 as a tool for oppression or to suppress people's freedoms under the Constitution.

In a statement, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said that on the contrary, Arroyo issued Proclamation 1017 precisely to protect the "state and the people against mob rule and the seditious use of the tools for public information to foment civil unrest."

He added that there is no crackdown on freedoms, only on anarchy and disorder, the press release from his office said.

Bunye said that had the plot to overthrow the government succeeded, the country could be in flames by now as the plotters composed of a disparate group from the "extreme left, the misguided elements of the military and political opportunists fight among themselves for supremacy."

Bunye said confidence in the economy remains high despite the events of the past few days and called this is "a tribute to the decisive actions taken by the President to restore political stability." The perceived restiveness in the military ranks is abating and the chain of command is secure as ever, he claimed.*CPG/AFP

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