Students of the state-run Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila shout slogans after forcing their way inside the campus on Feb 28 after security personnel closed the school’s gates upon receiving reports of a bomb threat coinciding with the arrival of former government employee and corruption probe key witness Rodolfo Lozada..

MANILA —-

 The Philippine military warned Thursday that a planned massive anti-government protest calling for the resignation of scandal-tainted President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo might be attacked by terrorists.

Major General Fernando Mesa, chief of military forces in Manila, said they have information that al-Qaeda-linked Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels or communist guerrillas might launch attacks during the demonstrations scheduled on Friday.

“We received information, although it is still in the process of validation, about the terrorist plan,” he said. “Terrorists look for opportunities where they can inflict most harm, the more the victims, the better for them.” Organisers said they expect at least 20,000 people to join the rally in the financial district of Makati on Friday evening.

Mesa said that while the forces of communist and Abu Sayyaf rebels have been diminished over the past years by continued military offensives, they are still capable of launching attacks;-At least 5,000 policemen will be deployed to secure the rally and other key facilities in Manila on Friday, while some 3,000 soldiers will be utilised to augment the security for the protest, according to authorities.

Amid rumours that disgruntled junior officers will be joining the anti-Arroyo protest, Mesa warned that soldiers who join the demonstration will be apprehended. “Even if he is a soldier if he violates the law, the police is mandated to do something about it,” he said.

Calls for Arroyo to quit have intensified since a witness told a Senate inquiry earlier in the month that Arroyo’s husband and a key ally demanded multimillion-dollar kickbacks from a scrapped government contract with a Chinese firm.

On Tuesday, another witness testified that Arroyo and her husband received at least five million dollars in kickbacks from the controversial government contract with China’s ZTE Corp;-The deal was signed in April 2007, but Arroyo scrapped the contract five months later after a Senate inquiry uncovered alleged anomalies in the deal. Arroyo, her husband and accused allies have denied any wrongdoing.

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