In a statement from The Netherlands, Jose Maria Sison, accused President Gloria Arroyo of peddling "lies" when she declared a national emergency on February 24 citing an imminent coup.

He said he never endorsed "the non-existent coup attempt or coup conspiracy."

"I have never made such an endorsement," Sison said, stressing that he backed a popular uprising and the military's withdrawal of support for Arroyo.

The party's 8,000-strong armed unit, the New People's Army, has been ordered to "intensify the revolutionary struggle" and seize weapons to speed up efforts to push Arroyo from power, Sison said.

Invoking emergency powers, Arroyo used security forces to quash what she called a broad alliance between communist rebels, military officers and civilians to topple her.

Nearly 30 military officers have been detained or are being investigated, while six leftist legislators were among 16 opposition figures police asked by the justice department to be charged with rebellion.

Arroyo on Sunday acknowledged that "residual" threats to her presidency remained, but warned her opponents that she has consolidated the military chain of command.

The embattled president's popularity has plummeted since last year when she survived an impeachment vote in Congress over allegations of vote fraud, which officials said was apparently the catalyst for the failed coup plot.