Philippine president warns coup plotters

The President of the Philippines, Gloria Arroyo has appeared on television to warn against any attempts to destabilise her government.

President Arroyo said that the military and the police had the means to destroy anyone who moved against her.

She was speaking after the murder on Monday of a member of a shadowy military fraternity who said he had uncovered a coup plot.

The murdered man, Baron Cervantes, had said publicly that some members of a group he belonged to - the Young Officers Union - had hatched a plot to unseat the president.

Other members of the group have rejected the allegations and have denied Mr Cervantes was a member.

The group was involved in some of the rightist military coup attempts against the then president Corazon Aquino in the 1980s.

Its members were later granted amnesty under a peace agreement.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service