The Philippine military said on Sunday it has detected no plot by any underground group within the military to destabilize the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The military's National Capital Region (NCR) command in the meantime has prepared contingency measures to thwart any such plot with four battalions of soldiers tasked to crush any attack by renegade soldiers, said NCR spokesman Ramon Zagala.

He made the statement after a group claiming to represent the defunct "Young Officers Union" (YOU), which staged a number coups during the late 1980s, published a manifesto calling for the ouster of Arroyo.

The NCR command was established to protect the president from what the military called "adventurism" after an abortive mutiny, also called the Oakwood mutiny, was staged by some low ranking officers in July 2003.

"As of the moment, there are no threat from rightist groups. There are no intelligence reports indicating that they are planning something," said Zagala.

Zagala said military "higher headquarters" are searching for the source of the YOU manifesto, which was earlier dismissed as a fake by the military.

Military intelligence operatives are also working to preempt any possible plot by renegade soldiers, he said.

Former YOU chairman Danilo Lim said on Saturday he did not discount the possibility that it was prepared by some former YOU members or other junior officers using its name.

He said YOU has ceased to exist since 1995 when it signed a reconciliation accord with the government of former President Fidal Ramos.

Source: Xinhua