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Philippines, March 25, 2006 (AFP) Philippine President Gloria Arroyo on Saturday called on the new graduating class of military cadets not to be enticed by shadowy groups trying to recruit them for any new coup attempt.

"There are many forces that wish to drag us back and stop our forward progress. Some of you know that personally. Some of you have been the objects of attempts at recruitment," Arroyo said at the graduation ceremonies of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).

Arroyo, who quashed an alleged coup attempt by military rebels in alliance with communist guerrillas last month, warned that she would not take such attempts lightly in her speech at the PMA in this northern resort city.

"We cannot keep sweeping disloyalty under the rug. We cannot even allow disloyalty to face the rug with a few push-ups. We must sweep disloyalty out of our house once and for all," she told the cadets.

This was a reference to coup attempts by rightist military rebels against then-president Corazon Aquino in the 1980s. Most coup plotters got off with almost no punishment with some merely being forced to do push-ups.

Key members of those coup attempts have been linked to the latest failed power grab against Arroyo.

The president told the graduates to have an "undivided focus on security concerns and not on political intrigue".

Despite the declaration of a week-long state of emergency last month and preparations for a court martial of about 20 officers for alleged involvement in the coup plot, the military chief has warned that there still may be more such attempts.

Arroyo stressed that their real enemies were communist insurgents and Muslim extremists with ties to foreign militant groups.

Security at the PMA, the local version of the US West Point academy, was very tight following reports that military rebels might try to disrupt the graduation. However the president's visit passed without incident.

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