Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo also denied that Administrative Order No. 197 issued by President Arroyo is aimed to protect the military amid controversies like its alleged involvement in the "Hello Garci" wiretapping issue and in political killings and forced disappearances.

AO 197 directs the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to draft a legislative proposal establishing "safeguards against disclosure of military secrets and undue interference in military operations inimical to national security."

Saludo said it is common practice among nations to keep military secrets and operations confidential.

"Any government in the world would agree that military secrets are not to be disclosed, but we would go through the legislative process to ensure that while we protect our military secrets, we would maintain accountability and continue to uphold human rights," Saludo said in an interview on government’s Radyo ng Bayan.

Earlier, Mrs. Arroyo also directed the DND and the AFP to coordinate with the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC) subcommittee on killings and disappearances to speed up the resolution of cases of political killings and forced disappearances allegedly involving the military.

Human rights group Karapatan claims that more than 800 killings of journalists and militant group activists have been perpetrated during the Arroyo administration alone, but authorities said there have only been 116 cases of political killings since Mrs. Arroyo came to power in 2001.

House committee to draft bill on ‘military secrets’

By EDMER F. PANESA

Pangasinan Rep. Arthur Celeste, chairman of the House Committee on National Defense and Security, has ordered the drafting of a bill that would safeguard "military secrets" upon the request of President Arroyo.

Celeste said he has given instructions to his committee to prepare a draft legislative proposal that would set guidelines on what military information should be considered as classified and how to go about safeguarding them.

"We need to make definite the rules regarding military confidentiality on information, the need to clearly define what should be regarded as classified for national interest and what information can be revealed to the public," Celeste said.

Earlier, President Arroyo ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Department of National Defense (DND) to help draft laws that will safeguard military secrets.

The order, included in the five-pronged Administrative Order 197, came as the Senate inquires into allegations that the military wire-tapped President Arroyo’s phone and those of several other personalities during the 2004 election period.

The military has repeatedly snubbed summons to appear in the inquiry, saying it is not compelled to divulge military secrets.

Meanwhile, Celeste vowed to push for Congress approval of the Amnesty Proclamation that the President issued last month.

In Presidential Proclamation 1377 signed last Sept. 6, the President established an amnesty program for the members of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front, "as well as others who have committed some forms of rebellion."

The President ordered the DND and the AFP to cooperate with the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and other sectoral and civil society groups for the early approval of a proposed measure on her government’s amnesty program.

The amnesty program covers the "crime of rebellion and all other crimes included therein or incident thereto in pursuit of political beliefs as defined by jurisprudence, whether punishable under the Revised Penal Code or special laws."

Celeste said that PP 1377 will take effect upon concurrence by a majority of all members of Congress. His committee is in charge of conducting hearings on the proposed amnesty program.