MANILA — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s officials yesterday issued warnings against almost everyone in what could be seen a sign of panic over growing disenchantment over the chief executive.

Yesterday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) leadership threatened yesterday to fire members who join mounting opposition and church-led protests calling for Arroyo’s resignation amid worsening corruption scandals.

Members of the Makati Business Club were threatened with tax reviews, while the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) sent Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, an staunch Arroyo critic, a demand letter to settle his archdiocese’s supposed tax obligations.

Not to be outdone, the Department of Justice (DoJ) said yesterday that it wanted Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr., the key witness in the Senate probe of the national broadband network (NBN) deal, and Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) chairman Romulo Neri to be held criminally liable for violating a Palace circular on secrecy.

Police issued the warning as the influential Roman Catholic church continued a series of demonstrations in support of a star witness who exposed alleged large-scale bribery.

Ahead of Monday’s rallies marking the anniversary of the 1986 “people power” revolt that ousted late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, national police spokesman Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said officers caught attending the protests will face administrative charges that may lead to dismissal.

“They are supposed to be government employees,” he said.

About 10,000 people called for Arroyo’s ouster at a rally in Manila’s financial district last Friday. They were backed by nearly 100 former government officials who signed a manifesto condemning Arroyo’s “wrongful governance” and urging her entire Cabinet to resign.

Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, called for a different kind of “people power” revolt to fight endemic corruption.

Lagdameo said it was expecting a slow burn anti-corruption drive against the government rather than a sudden toppling of Arroyo due to a kickbacks scandal.

Lagdameo said on Wednesday apathy and cynicism about the last “people power” revolt which first brought Arroyo to power in 2001 meant that many Filipinos were in no rush to take to the streets despite a new corruption scandal. “The Filipino people, we together through communal action, must discover a new brand of people power,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Many Catholic churches and key universities have set up “truth centers” to collect signatures and cash donations from the public to back a key corruption witness, Rodolfo Lozada Jr., and other officials exposing government corruption.

The latest scandal battering Arroyo, who has survived four power grabs and three impeachment attempts, erupted after Lozada, a former government consultant, accused a former elections chief of demanding a huge kickback from brokering a government contract with Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp.

Lozada also alleged that Arroyo’s husband took part in backroom negotiations for the $330 million contract. The deal has since been aborted, and both men and ZTE have denied the allegations.

Influential Roman Catholic bishops and many prominent business leaders have openly backed Lozada, who was mobbed like a movie star yesterday by hundreds of young female students at Manila’s Saint Scholastica’s College.

“People should not get tired of `people power.’ We should get tired of people who squander it,” Lozada told students. Lozada’s campaign has caught the attention of the Justice Department, which started running after him instead of the people he implicated in the scandal.

Justice Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar explained that a Palace circular prohibits the premature disclosure of government contracts and “those who do may be held liable for violations of the provisions of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) covering infidelity in the custody of public documents and revealing trade secrets.”

Another undersecretary, Ernesto Pineda, who chairs the DoJ panel investigating the controversial deal, said Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI), the firm of businessman and original whistleblower Jose “Joey” De Venecia III, is financially incapable of undertaking the NBN project even if it had been awarded the $329-million contract.

Salazar explained that Article 226 of the RPC punishes a public officer who remove, destroy or conceal documents or papers entrusted to him with six years’ imprisonment and a fine of P1,000.

However, he acknowledged a thorough study is needed because there is no written authorization providing Lozada a copy of the contract with China’s ZTE Corp. The contract was scrapped after the Senate opened its inquiry into the alleged overpricing and kickbacks surrounding the deal.

Salazar also said there was no indication Lozada was ever a consultant of the National Economic and Development (NEDA), the agency Neri headed which studied the NBN contract.

Pineda, on the other hand, said documents given to them showed AHI with an authorized capital of only P5 million and paid up capital of P325,000. He said they were puzzled why the firm bid for the NBN contract even if it is not in electronics and communications.

Archbishop Cruz, meanwhile, said he was surprised to receive a demand letter from the BIR for his office to settle its supposed tax obligations.

He said his office has not been remiss in paying its dues and it was the first time the agency had received such a notice since he headed the archdiocese in 1992

The BIR demand letter, Cruz said, could be part of Malacañang’s efforts to silence him. But the letter, signed by revenue district officer Joseph Catapia, said it was part of the district’s efforts to expand its tax base and boost its collection performance. (With input from Inquirer News Service & Agencies)