Malacañang said on Tuesday that President Arroyo is pushing through with a weeklong trip to Europe and the Middle East, starting January 22, the supposed culmination date of an alleged plot to destabilize her administration.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye told reporters that as planned, the President will leave for  Switzerland on January 22 primarily to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, and then to the United Arab Emirates for an “investment road show” with Filipino businessmen in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Asked how Malacañang viewed reports of possible destabilization efforts against the administration on January 22, Bunye said, “We’re telling you that the trip of the President would push through.”

In her forthcoming foreign trip, the President would first land in Zurich, and then proceed to Davos for the WEF where her main participation would be on the subject of gender equality.

Bunye said that in the President’s meetings with potential investors in Switzerland, she will tell them why she believes the Philippines would provide the “best value for their investment” by enumerating the strides her administration had made on economic development and reforms.

The President will fly to the United Arab Emirates next, where she would lead Filipino businessmen in an investment road show targetting overseas Filipino workers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, before returning to Manila on January 28.

Cabinet officials who attended the National Security Council meeting said the alleged destabilization plot was not even on the agenda, which was dominated by discussions on the peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro told reporters after the meeting that authorities are monitoring such allegations “and we feel that the possibility of a success of any destabilization effort is remote, although we’re not taking any chances.”

Teodoro said such allegations remain unvalidated and as such “could not be serious at this point in time.”

Asked about destabilization efforts, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said that while authorities always take such matters seriously, “the [current] state of destabilization is not that alarming.”

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, who first revealed the alleged destabilization plot to be hatched through mass action by militant groups on January 22, reminded that it was he who first “blew the whistle” on the power grab attempt on February 2006, based on his gathered information, which “proved to be correct.”

But he clarified that while he believed that he has a “basis” for his statements, “I’m not saying that is still what will happen.”

“It does not mean to say that these reports will be 100-percent accurate but at least one group has already admitted that they are planning mass actions calling for the ouster of the President,” he said.

He stressed that past experience has shown that “whenever there are mass actions, chances are that some other groups kindred with their ideas will ride on that.”

Asked whether the government is using the destablization scare to impose curfew and establish checkpoints, Gonzalez said: “That is a very wild imagination. It was not even discussed.

The Armed Forces, meanwhile, denied the claim of Sen. Rodolfo Biazon that it was raising the destabilization bogey just to justify the extension of the tour of duty of the chief of staff, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., by the President.

Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, chief of the Armed Forces public information office, said that while the military respects the opinion of the senator, efforts to topple the Arroyo administration are continuing but that the military could not talk about them openly.

“We do respect the opinion made by Senator Biazon. He might have sources telling him about the absence of destabilization effort, but we believe that the efforts are continuing and there are developments that I am not privy to…I am not cleared to divulge,” he said.

Bacarro said some of the efforts to oust the administration are coming from the Left, the “dangerous” partnership between leftist and rightists elements and the Magdalo Group.

He, however, assured that the military can handle all the threats coming from all antigovernment groups. “The threat is there but it’s not that serious, It’s nothing that we can’t handle.”

Bacarro said that the Armed Forces is also prepared for the scheduled rallies of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, that Gonzalez said would be used as a cover by anti-Arroyo forces to stage their destabilization effort.

“There are coordinations being undertaken right now with the National Police, particularly the National Capital Region Command relative to forces that they need, but I would like to highlight that we only do supporting roles,” he said.

On Monday, the National Police chief, Director General Avelino Razon Jr., said that the force is verifying reports received by Gonzalez that a group linked to failed coup plotter Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is plotting to overthrow the government between January 17 and 22.

“We are not discounting it, that is why we are verifying it,” he said.

Palace not worried about coup threat

Malacañang said on Tuesday that President Arroyo is pushing through with a weeklong trip to Europe and the Middle East, starting January 22, the supposed culmination date of an alleged plot to destabilize her administration.

THE Department of Health (DOH) has expressed relief that all barriers to the implementation of the revised Milk Code have been eliminated, as the Supreme Court (SC) barred milk companies from filing an extension to appeal its October decision.

HOPING the government will realize that the permanent or temporary removal of the 12-percent value-added tax on petroleum products spell big relief to consumers, Sen. Mar  Roxas II expressed optimism on Tuesday that the energy summit called by Malacañang will tackle his proposal to temporarily suspend the collection of VAT on oil products for at least six month.

TENSION gripped Nueva Vizcaya’s mining sites anew, as tribesmen barricaded the site of an Australian mining company in their ancestral lands.

AS more US troops are due to arrive in Mindanao for new joint military exercises starting February 18, a militant legislator called on the House of Representatives to immediately conduct a review on the continued presence and incidents of abuse of US soldiers in Mindanao under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

IN an attempt to address what he described as the moral degeneration of society as a result of the tragedies caused by abortion, child abuse, neglect and other forms of antilife and antichild acts, a legislator has filed a bill allowing the parents of unwanted babies to give up their children to the government without fear of arrest and prosecution.

PSYCHIATRISTS are concerned that the feminization of labor migration that has prompted fathers to take the role of mothers is causing a negative effect on children’s behavior.