In the midst of the “Hello Garci†controversy in 2005, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo reportedly considered declaring martial law and gave “a defiant stare†at a US official who told her that Washington could not go along with the plan.
A series of purported confidential US Embassy cables released by the antisecrecy network WikiLeaks during the weekend revealed Washington’s moves to dissuade Arroyo from clamping martial law two decades after the dismantling of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship.
WikiLeaks uploaded on its website more than 2,000 sensitive memos said to have come from the US Embassy in Manila out of a cache of 250,000 from American diplomatic missions worldwide that has sparked consternation but official silence from Washington.
Asked for comment, US Embassy spokesperson Tina Malone told the Inquirer: “We do not comment on the substance or authenticity of the materials, including allegedly classified documents, which may have been leaked.â€
One supposedly secret memo to the US Department of State talked of a Philippine aide memoir which claimed that political destabilizers had forged an alliance with communists and al-Qaida-linked terrorists to remove Arroyo and that this required either emergency rule or martial law.
Arroyo was then battling for political survival following revelations in wiretapped conversations with an election commissioner, Virgilio Garcillano, that she stole the 2004 presidential election—a charge she denies.
