Philippines to deploy troops for Arroyo State of Nation address next Monday

MANILA, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The Philippin armed forces has dedicated a battalion of troops trained in quelling civil disturbance for President Arroyo's delivery of her State of the Nation Address on Monday at the Batasan complex, home of the House of Representatives.

"We have some CDM (civil disturbance management) units which we will station at the Batasan (complex). We'll have one battalion of CDM at the Batasan," the country's armed forces' chief Gen. VictorIbrado said in an ambush interview in Camp Aguinaldo.

Ibrado said the deployment will be supervised by the military's National Capital Region Command under Maj. Gen. Jogy Leo Fojas butsaid the Philippine National Police will have the primary responsibility of securing the president's address.

When asked if the military has monitored any report of disturbances being hatched by certain groups for the president address, Ibrado said: "We have not monitored or received any report or any plan by anyone to disrupt the State of the Nation Address."

Ibrado said that what they are expecting is the conduct of demonstrations, which is actually traditional for anti-government groups. "We only have reports of rallies that will be conducted by different cause-oriented organizations," he said.

On the possibility of a destabilization move being launched in time for the State of the Nation Address, Ibrado said: "We have not monitored any destabilization plan by anyone."