PM raises concerns on plot crackdown

The Prime Minister has floated the idea of a free-trade agreement with the Philippines. Picture / Reuters

BOHOL - Prime Minister Helen Clark has won an assurance from Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that she will not use a failed coup plot as an excuse to crack down on opposition to her Government.

Mrs Macapagal-Arroyo's Government declared a state of emergency last month after a claimed coup attempt, but some commentators have questioned the extent of the plot and whether she is merely using it to limit freedoms and purge opponents.

Helen Clark has been sent a letter by five leftist lawmakers who are attempting to avoid arrest for sedition by staying in the local Parliament.

The MPs, who have been holed up for several days, deny any plot link.

The Prime Minister said she questioned Mrs Macapagal-Arroyo "at length" about events around the coup plot, taking up about 25 minutes of a one-hour meeting.

"We're not in a position to judge what the substance is, but clearly her point of view is that a range of elements across the political spectrum were involved in some kind of rebellion," she said.

But she had been assured that proper constitutional process would be followed in laying charges against the MPs. Until then she would withhold judgment on the issue.

The bilateral talks were held late last night (NZT) under a heavy cloak of security, with soldiers carrying submachine guns patrolling the grounds of the resort location and a gunboat moored just off the beach.

Helen Clark said the direction of New Zealand's $4 million aid programme to the Philippines was also discussed.

New Zealand wanted to put it into sustainable business ventures.

She sought to highlight that assistance with a trip today to a New Zealand-supported dolphin-watching eco-tourism venture providing about 50 jobs. It is financially self-sufficient.

Helen Clark said New Zealand's healthy trade relationship with the Philippines - now our largest southeast Asian export market - was also discussed.

She floated the idea of a free-trade agreement with the Philippines, which she believed they would consider.

The meeting followed the opening of the Asia-Pacific Interfaith Dialogue forum in Cebu earlier in the day, where Helen Clark told the almost 200 religious leaders gathered from 15 countries that cooperation between religions was essential to combating terrorism. She also offered to hold the next interfaith forum in New Zealand.

- NZPA