Counter-coup task force reactivated for EDSA rites

The military has reactivated a special counter-coup task force and placed on stand-by no less than three battalions of troopers to thwart any attempt to disrupt the EDSA people power II celebration set to start today.

But acting Armed Forces spokesman Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya said the troopers will be deployed around the EDSA Shrine in Mandaluyong City to complement police security measures.

"We have the usual Task Force Libra which we have reactivated and we can gear up our forces depending on how the situation develops. But, off hand, we have at our disposal, maybe two or three battalions (about 1,500 men)," Abaya said.

The military units are part of "Task Force EDSA Shrine" which was formed primarily to secure Camp Aguinaldo, the nearby headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

"Task Force Libra," a special counter-coup unit, was formed on April 25 last year, or five days before loyalists of former President Joseph Estrada stormed Malacañang Palace on Labor Day.

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez stressed the security forces were deployed to ensure public safety and not to violate citizens’ civil rights.

"We would like to emphasize that what we want is to make sure that all those who want to celebrate in whatever way, whether they are in favor... or not in favor of the government ... (these) will be done in a very peaceful and orderly manner," Golez said.

But Golez said these precautionary measures do not necessarily mean there are valid threats against the Arroyo administration similar to the May Day riots last year which resulted in the death of four people and injuries to more than 100 others.

"There is no direct threat of a similar congregation of people but we don’t take anything for granted. That’s why, for the sake of peace and order, for the sake of national security, we are prepared for any contingency," he assured.

He said the Presidential Security Group (PSG) is on alert for a recurrence of the May Day incident in which some 50,000 Estrada loyalists marched to Malacañang and clashed with police.

Golez said, however, that security forces have "modified" the police principle of maximum tolerance during civil demonstrations but he refused to divulge what these modifications would be.

"You will find out if, in case, they march," he said.

Rolls of barbed wire, fire trucks and an evidently larger contingent of policemen and Marines have been deployed around the streets leading to Malacañang.

"In addition, we have the new structures that were set up as a result of the lessons of the May 1 assault on Malacañang," he said, apparently referring to the electrification of the Palace fences.

The fences were electrified shortly after the May Day riots when Estrada loyalists assaulted policemen and soldiers deployed around the Palace after they staged a pre-dawn march from the EDSA Shrine. – With Aurea Calica