After 5 years, Arroyo to convene security council again

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo may call a full meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) next week and invite former presidents Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada to attend, Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales said Sunday. Among the agenda in the meeting, which will be a first of such kind since 2005, are the coming nationwide automated elections, dismantling of private armies, and the recovery of loose firearms. “We have not been able to do [this kind of meeting] in the past years because despite all our appeals, partisanship remains a major fact. But I think today, the President is confident that we can call the National Security Council meeting," Gonzales said. “Its supposed to be a kind of meeting that would address sensitive challenges of the nation minus our usual differences on politics," he added. The last full meeting of the NSC happened in 2005 during the height of allegations that President Arroyo rigged the results of the 2004 presidential elections to ensure her victory against strongest opponent, the late Fernando Poe Jr. Estrada was not able to attend the 2005 meeting as he was detained then and on trial for plunder charges. The planned meeting, if it pushes through, would be the “baptism of fire" for new National Intelligence Coordinating Administration (NICA) director general Milo Ibrado, who was named the head of NICA last month. Ibrado is the elder brother of Armed Forces chief Gen. Victor Ibrado. - KBK, GMANews.TV