Two days after the supporters of former President Joseph Estrada stormed the presidential palace on May 1, I visited him in his jail cell to make sure he's as comfortable as possible. It was a humanitarian gesture and part of my duty as president.

The visit was not a move to calm things down. Had it been, I should have done it at the height of the rallies on May 1, not after the government successfully calmed them down

I will also visit the Estrada supporters who were victimised in the rallies, but not those who plotted against the government. For them, justice must first be served.

It should be clear that the government is not the enemy of the Estrada supporters. Their enemies are those who inveigled them into marching on the palace and then abandoned them when the law started to be enforced.

What happened was not a matter of class war, as the instigators of the rallies claimed, but a grab at power by people who sowed hatred to advance their cause. They bussed in the poor and for five days harangued them about how the elite despised them. It amounts to a thorough brainwashing.

What they said was unequivocally incorrect. To begin with I am the daughter of the only president that came from the masses. Indeed, at the rally I was called Gloria Lavandera (washwoman). I don't find this name insulting, however. My grandmother was a lavandera . In contrast, neither Estrada nor his parents came from the masses.

Moral ascendancy

Nonetheless, we have to let the poor know what we have been doing and more. On urban land reform, we have been able to help a thousand families in 100 days, which is more than what the previous administration did in two-and-a-half years.

The palace siege has not created an unstable situation for my administration. The presumption of the military was always that the government has moral ascendancy.

It takes great talent for a commander-in-chief to lose the support of the military because they are very professional and constitutionally oriented.

What happened in January, when the army withdrew its support for Estrada, was really unusual because the government had lost moral ascendancy even in the minds of the armed forces. They did not seize power, but allowed the constitutional succession to take place.

If these power grabbers try to make a comeback I will have to calibrate my response to the extent of the threat. However, I don't think we should emphasise the possibility of martial law.

I took the step of declaring a state of rebellion because it was necessary to pursue the power grabbers. It simply means that I can charge people with rebellion. You can't run after them unless you declare a state of rebellion and declare them as rebels.

The crime of rebellion or insurrection is committed by rising publicly and taking arms against the government for the purpose of among other things, depriving the chief executive, fully or partially, of any of the powers of her office. The power grabbers clearly fit this description. They had arms, tear gas, and knives.

It was a step I had to take so I could enforce the law. I didn't have to seek the approval of Congress because I didn't declare a state of emergency, which brings with it certain specific changes like the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus .

Major step

Claims by the pro-Estrada opposition - many whom were the plotters - that my actions were politically-motivated are simply wrong. I acted without political considerations in mind. I had to do my duty as president.

In this case, the power grab was aborted, which shows the strength of our democratic institutions.

On the issue of warrant-less arrests, the Philippine constitution says they are legitimate when a crime is in progress or about to be committed or continuing. Rebellion is a continuing crime. We acted fully within the constitution and were successful in thwarting an attempt at power grabbing.

This was a major step in restoring peace and order in the country.

GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO became president of the Philippines in January after corruption charges brought down former president Joseph Estrada. She wrote this article for the Inter-Press Service .