CONGRESSMAN TEDDY CASINO: Actually this is my son's bed. I borrowed it from my son because it's the only bed available at home that I can take, and this is my space over here for the last 11 days.
Every night now for almost six weeks, Congressman Teddy Casino has made his bed on the floor of the Congress building. Accused of plotting to overthrow the Government, he would be arrested if he stepped outside the gates.
TEDDY CASINO: This is really strange because this is the Speaker's office, this is where we hold our meetings and our committee hearings and now this is where I sleep.
Just across the room from Teddy Congressman Rafelle Mariano and his son lay out their mattresses while in another corner Congressman Sartur Ocampo also prepares to settle in for the night. The Congress building has become a prison for five elected representatives, all of whom insist it is President Arroyo who poses the real threat to democracy.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: The police and Mrs Arroyo, they have all gone mad. There is no more reason, there is no more fair play, there is no more respect for due process in this country, there is no democracy.
The plight of the congressmen began on 24 February. That same Friday these students were exercising democratic rights they took for granted. For months now, once a week, the students had been calling for the President's resignation. They didn't know it but this week their march was illegal. On the grounds that a plot to overthrow her had been uncovered, Arroyo had just introduced martial law.
PRESIDENT ARROYO, TV ADDRESS, (Translation): My countrymen, I've declared a state of emergency because of the clear and present threat to the Republic which we've discovered and foiled. Some have tried to defy the armed forces chain of command and have disobeyed the civil government to establish a regime outside the constitution.
Unaware of the televised declaration that morning the students soon got their first taste of the new order. The police seemed to relish powers that hadn't been used since the dark days of the Marcos regime. Dozens were injured and many more taken into custody.
MIKE DEFENSOR, CHIEF OF STAFF: I'll be one of the first to be guilty of saying that I immediately said, "Madam President, let's come out with a state of emergency," and there was unanimity with that proclamation.
The President's Chief of Staff, Mike Defensor, claims that a majority of Filipinos approved of martial law.
MIKE DEFENSOR: People supported it because Filipinos do not want a coup d'etat, the Filipinos do not want a military takeover of the government. We have had 20 years of that and so when we came out with that and we explained it to the people people understood and supported and rallied behind the President.
But this was just the opening volley in Arroyo's crackdown. On Sunday February 26, two days after the students were attacked, six left-wing congressmen were accused of being involved in the plot to overthrow President Arroyo. One was arrested, the other five rushed to the Congress building, protected by scores of supporters.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA (Translation): There is no basis to these charges and I will continue to fight and push for my right to represent my constituents, all the women.
Liza Maza is a well-known women's rights activist and a member of the Filipino Congress since 2001. Along with her colleagues, she's been granted temporary protection by the Congress.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: So this is where I sleep.
REPORTER: This is where you sleep?
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: Yes.
REPORTER: On this couch here?
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: Yes, and this is just like a pillow, so I put it down like that, and this is my blanket.
Maza is angry that the Government has released few details about the charges being prepared against them.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: One is that, allegedly, we are committing rebellion, and another is that we participated in an attempt to launch a coup d'etat against Mrs Arroyo, and up to this moment they are saying they have tons of evidence, but this is all being announced through the media.
Despite their precarious situation, the mood here is more defiant than fearful. They believe the charges against them are trumped up and politically motivated.
REPORTER: Some might say if the allegations against all of you are true then they are very serious allegations? Allegations about rebellion and plotting to overthrow the Government?
TEDDY CASINO: But it's a very ridiculous case, you know? One of their evidences is an affidavit of this person who said that 14 years ago he saw me somewhere in the hills attending a central committee meeting of the Communist Party of the Philippines. That was 14 years ago - why didn't they file a case back then, or a few months or years after that? Why now?
The Government says the case against the congressmen is not political payback, and has produced this so-called star witness. The testimony of this bizarre-looking witness is the source of all the publicly released allegations, many of which relate to incidents that happened up to 20 years ago. Although he's shy on the detail, the head of the Philippines National Police, General Lomibao, says the case against the congressmen is clear-cut.
GENERAL LOMIBAO: This has to be proven in court, but as far as the prosecution is concerned then we say that the evidence is really solid evidence.
REPORTER: So you are confident that this is not a case of political persecution?
GENERAL LOMIBAO: Oh no, no, no. No definitely not.
REPORTER: That this is a clear case... ..that these people were coup plotters?
GENERAL LOMIBAO: Yes.
This is rare footage of the communist rebels the Philippine Government claim were behind the conspiracy. They call themselves the New People's Army. The Government claims they conspired with the congressmen and members of the Philippines military and police to seize power in a coup d'etat. The problem with the Government's theory is that it's a most unlikely alliance.
There are only a few thousand of them, scattered in some of the country's most remote regions, and there's never been any history of these diehard Maoists seeking to conspire with the mostly right-wing military. But the Government insists this was a real conspiracy.
REPORTER: Can you look at me with a straight face and tell me they are linked?
MIKE DEFENSOR: Nick, first of all there's a tactical gain from coalescing together because both camps, with arms - the rebels having their own New people's Army - and the right is adventurous, getting arms, and tactically wanting to bring down the Government. Now, this theory was not concocted by the government.
The government has produced documents that, it says, prove the link between renegade military officers and far-flung communist rebels. It says the documents were discovered inside the locker of a military officer.
NINEZ OLIVARES, EDITOR: Who is so stupid to come around and put this kind of document in a locker? It doesn't make sense.
REPORTER: So you believe it's fabricated?
NINEZ OLIVARES: Of course it is.
Ninez Olivares is the editor of a left-wing newspaper, the 'Daily Tribune'. She doesn't believe the army would ever join forces with communist rebels.
NINEZ OLIVARES: They don't have any evidence with which to back up their charges. All they wanted to do was to do a martial law in disguise. That's what really happened, then she found out she couldn't do it well because she doesn't have the military solidly behind her.
For the first two years of her presidency, Gloria Arroyo had strong support from the military, but it didn't last long.
SOLDIER (Translation): In the name of the brave... ..these soldiers... ..we would like to make it known to all the Filipino people that we are not terrorists, we are soldiers...
She had her first taste of rebellion in 2003 when a group of special forces troops took over and booby-trapped an apartment complex in central Manila and declared a mutiny against her. The soldiers would eventually surrender after a 20-hour stand-off, but Arroyo's troubles had only just begun.
Last year Arroyo was accused of electoral fraud when tapes were released of telephone conversations she had with election officials during the 2004 election. The conversations clearly suggesting a massive vote-rigging effort.
GLORIA ARROYO, PRESIDENT: I also regret taking so long to speak before you on this matter.
Surviving impeachment efforts against her, Arroyo expressed regret, but few took her apology seriously.
GLORIA ARROYO: Let me tell you how I feel personally. I recognise that making any such call was a lapse in judgment. I am sorry.
In fact the evidence about vote-rigging in the 2004 election has continued to mount. Just last month photos taken on a mobile phone were released showing soldiers using crude techniques to change votes and stack the result.
NINEZ OLIVARES: She just keeps on saying, "I won the elections fair and square," and everybody knows she cheated, and everybody also knows the military was used by her to cheat for her.
For a broadsheet the 'Daily Tribune' is a small operation, but its bite is big. The Government has long expressed its displeasure with Ninez Olivares and her team of journalists, who often run stories critical of President Arroyo.
NINEZ OLIVARES: We've been coming up with a lot of exposes, and that's a lot of dirt that we've been digging up on the palace, on corruption, on military restiveness, all this stuff that she doesn't want, that she doesn't want out.
So it was no surprise when, the day after martial law was declared, police mounted a midnight raid on the 'Tribune's offices. Although no-one was arrested, police shut down the printing presses and took away files on the pretext of investigating charges of sedition. Ninez says it was clearly a threat.
NINEZ OLIVARES: It was meant as a message from Arroyo that the media had better shape up or this is going to happen to you.
GENERAL LOMIBAO: If there is evidence to prove that people, that even the media, or anyone commit seditious charges, or sedition, then the law has to take its course. No-one is above the law, whether they belong to the media, a private citizen, a congressman or even a police officer for that matter, for as long as he violates the law then we will uphold the law.
TV REPORTER: What you saw also, just there, was a confrontation between Colonel Sugulmalian and the General. Oh, wait. We're seeing the arrival of a tank now. We don't know whose side they're on.
While there may have been growing dissatisfaction in the military beforehand, when Arroyo declared martial law on February 24, it triggered a near mutiny just two days later.
TV REPORTER: Marine tank there...marine tank there - they just suddenly arrived. We don't know whose side they're on or what their intention is, all we know is that these soldiers lined up here are supporters of Colonel Querubin.
With several army officers taken into custody for allegedly plotting a coup d'etat, Colonel Querubin and his Marines battalion began an extraordinary stand-off with the regular army command.
SOLDIER (Translation): We just want to tell you what our grievances are. Why don't you just come in? I want to talk to them first.
SOLDIER (Translation): Don't talk to them! They're not within your chain of command.
SOLDIER (Translation): These people, sir, are my troops. I have to ensure their safety, sir. Yes, OK.
With tanks lined up against the battalion barracks and tensions high, the stand-off was only resolved when Colonel Querubin agreed to respect the new chain of command and surrender. The government now claims that the Marines had hoped to spark a people power-style revolt by joining students in their Friday demonstration on the day martial law was declared. It says that overt political involvement by the army could not be tolerated.
MIKE DEFENSOR: I don't know of any soldier or any armed forces, whether in the Philippines or any other part of the world, that you see soldiers practicing their political rights going to rallies, or openly speaking out against the mandated government.
But it's not just renegade soldiers, students, politicians and journalists who are speaking out against the Government. At this recent mass, held at the Congress building, even the priests wore protest stickers calling for President Arroyo's resignation.
Many of these clerics protested against the authoritarian regime of Ferdinand Marcos and they firmly believe that the actions of Arroyo's Government pose just as serious a threat to democracy as the dictatorial rule of Marcos.
BISHOP JULIO XAVIER LABAYEN, BISHOP OF QUEZON PROVINCE: The system has grown more powerful so that we ousted Marcos but the system remains, so the later politicians came in and they knew how to manage the system for their own interests, that's why nothing really changed - it became worse.
Trapped at the Congress building, Liza Maza takes to the roof twice a day to practise her yoga and prepare for the long battle ahead.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: That's the warrior pose. The warrior pose? Yes, that's my favourite pose, because, after all, this is a battle of wills.
Liza's interest in yoga may serve her well. If the charges against her are accepted by the court she and the others face many years in prison, but if she's fearful of that result she's not showing it.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: The truth will come out. The government is so afraid, you know, that people, that everything will come to a head, that is why they are using the coercive power of the state to run against the critics and to silence them, to silence us.
In the two decades since Marcos was ousted by people power, the dream for a truly democratic and prosperous Philippines has failed to materialise. Allegations of cronyism and corruption have once again become the norm rather than the exception, and with the right to freedom of expression and political dissent under a cloud the fear is that the Philippines might once again descend into political turmoil.
Every night now for almost six weeks, Congressman Teddy Casino has made his bed on the floor of the Congress building. Accused of plotting to overthrow the Government, he would be arrested if he stepped outside the gates.
TEDDY CASINO: This is really strange because this is the Speaker's office, this is where we hold our meetings and our committee hearings and now this is where I sleep.
Just across the room from Teddy Congressman Rafelle Mariano and his son lay out their mattresses while in another corner Congressman Sartur Ocampo also prepares to settle in for the night. The Congress building has become a prison for five elected representatives, all of whom insist it is President Arroyo who poses the real threat to democracy.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: The police and Mrs Arroyo, they have all gone mad. There is no more reason, there is no more fair play, there is no more respect for due process in this country, there is no democracy.
The plight of the congressmen began on 24 February. That same Friday these students were exercising democratic rights they took for granted. For months now, once a week, the students had been calling for the President's resignation. They didn't know it but this week their march was illegal. On the grounds that a plot to overthrow her had been uncovered, Arroyo had just introduced martial law.
PRESIDENT ARROYO, TV ADDRESS, (Translation): My countrymen, I've declared a state of emergency because of the clear and present threat to the Republic which we've discovered and foiled. Some have tried to defy the armed forces chain of command and have disobeyed the civil government to establish a regime outside the constitution.
Unaware of the televised declaration that morning the students soon got their first taste of the new order. The police seemed to relish powers that hadn't been used since the dark days of the Marcos regime. Dozens were injured and many more taken into custody.
MIKE DEFENSOR, CHIEF OF STAFF: I'll be one of the first to be guilty of saying that I immediately said, "Madam President, let's come out with a state of emergency," and there was unanimity with that proclamation.
The President's Chief of Staff, Mike Defensor, claims that a majority of Filipinos approved of martial law.
MIKE DEFENSOR: People supported it because Filipinos do not want a coup d'etat, the Filipinos do not want a military takeover of the government. We have had 20 years of that and so when we came out with that and we explained it to the people people understood and supported and rallied behind the President.
But this was just the opening volley in Arroyo's crackdown. On Sunday February 26, two days after the students were attacked, six left-wing congressmen were accused of being involved in the plot to overthrow President Arroyo. One was arrested, the other five rushed to the Congress building, protected by scores of supporters.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA (Translation): There is no basis to these charges and I will continue to fight and push for my right to represent my constituents, all the women.
Liza Maza is a well-known women's rights activist and a member of the Filipino Congress since 2001. Along with her colleagues, she's been granted temporary protection by the Congress.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: So this is where I sleep.
REPORTER: This is where you sleep?
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: Yes.
REPORTER: On this couch here?
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: Yes, and this is just like a pillow, so I put it down like that, and this is my blanket.
Maza is angry that the Government has released few details about the charges being prepared against them.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: One is that, allegedly, we are committing rebellion, and another is that we participated in an attempt to launch a coup d'etat against Mrs Arroyo, and up to this moment they are saying they have tons of evidence, but this is all being announced through the media.
Despite their precarious situation, the mood here is more defiant than fearful. They believe the charges against them are trumped up and politically motivated.
REPORTER: Some might say if the allegations against all of you are true then they are very serious allegations? Allegations about rebellion and plotting to overthrow the Government?
TEDDY CASINO: But it's a very ridiculous case, you know? One of their evidences is an affidavit of this person who said that 14 years ago he saw me somewhere in the hills attending a central committee meeting of the Communist Party of the Philippines. That was 14 years ago - why didn't they file a case back then, or a few months or years after that? Why now?
The Government says the case against the congressmen is not political payback, and has produced this so-called star witness. The testimony of this bizarre-looking witness is the source of all the publicly released allegations, many of which relate to incidents that happened up to 20 years ago. Although he's shy on the detail, the head of the Philippines National Police, General Lomibao, says the case against the congressmen is clear-cut.
GENERAL LOMIBAO: This has to be proven in court, but as far as the prosecution is concerned then we say that the evidence is really solid evidence.
REPORTER: So you are confident that this is not a case of political persecution?
GENERAL LOMIBAO: Oh no, no, no. No definitely not.
REPORTER: That this is a clear case... ..that these people were coup plotters?
GENERAL LOMIBAO: Yes.
This is rare footage of the communist rebels the Philippine Government claim were behind the conspiracy. They call themselves the New People's Army. The Government claims they conspired with the congressmen and members of the Philippines military and police to seize power in a coup d'etat. The problem with the Government's theory is that it's a most unlikely alliance.
There are only a few thousand of them, scattered in some of the country's most remote regions, and there's never been any history of these diehard Maoists seeking to conspire with the mostly right-wing military. But the Government insists this was a real conspiracy.
REPORTER: Can you look at me with a straight face and tell me they are linked?
MIKE DEFENSOR: Nick, first of all there's a tactical gain from coalescing together because both camps, with arms - the rebels having their own New people's Army - and the right is adventurous, getting arms, and tactically wanting to bring down the Government. Now, this theory was not concocted by the government.
The government has produced documents that, it says, prove the link between renegade military officers and far-flung communist rebels. It says the documents were discovered inside the locker of a military officer.
NINEZ OLIVARES, EDITOR: Who is so stupid to come around and put this kind of document in a locker? It doesn't make sense.
REPORTER: So you believe it's fabricated?
NINEZ OLIVARES: Of course it is.
Ninez Olivares is the editor of a left-wing newspaper, the 'Daily Tribune'. She doesn't believe the army would ever join forces with communist rebels.
NINEZ OLIVARES: They don't have any evidence with which to back up their charges. All they wanted to do was to do a martial law in disguise. That's what really happened, then she found out she couldn't do it well because she doesn't have the military solidly behind her.
For the first two years of her presidency, Gloria Arroyo had strong support from the military, but it didn't last long.
SOLDIER (Translation): In the name of the brave... ..these soldiers... ..we would like to make it known to all the Filipino people that we are not terrorists, we are soldiers...
She had her first taste of rebellion in 2003 when a group of special forces troops took over and booby-trapped an apartment complex in central Manila and declared a mutiny against her. The soldiers would eventually surrender after a 20-hour stand-off, but Arroyo's troubles had only just begun.
Last year Arroyo was accused of electoral fraud when tapes were released of telephone conversations she had with election officials during the 2004 election. The conversations clearly suggesting a massive vote-rigging effort.
GLORIA ARROYO, PRESIDENT: I also regret taking so long to speak before you on this matter.
Surviving impeachment efforts against her, Arroyo expressed regret, but few took her apology seriously.
GLORIA ARROYO: Let me tell you how I feel personally. I recognise that making any such call was a lapse in judgment. I am sorry.
In fact the evidence about vote-rigging in the 2004 election has continued to mount. Just last month photos taken on a mobile phone were released showing soldiers using crude techniques to change votes and stack the result.
NINEZ OLIVARES: She just keeps on saying, "I won the elections fair and square," and everybody knows she cheated, and everybody also knows the military was used by her to cheat for her.
For a broadsheet the 'Daily Tribune' is a small operation, but its bite is big. The Government has long expressed its displeasure with Ninez Olivares and her team of journalists, who often run stories critical of President Arroyo.
NINEZ OLIVARES: We've been coming up with a lot of exposes, and that's a lot of dirt that we've been digging up on the palace, on corruption, on military restiveness, all this stuff that she doesn't want, that she doesn't want out.
So it was no surprise when, the day after martial law was declared, police mounted a midnight raid on the 'Tribune's offices. Although no-one was arrested, police shut down the printing presses and took away files on the pretext of investigating charges of sedition. Ninez says it was clearly a threat.
NINEZ OLIVARES: It was meant as a message from Arroyo that the media had better shape up or this is going to happen to you.
GENERAL LOMIBAO: If there is evidence to prove that people, that even the media, or anyone commit seditious charges, or sedition, then the law has to take its course. No-one is above the law, whether they belong to the media, a private citizen, a congressman or even a police officer for that matter, for as long as he violates the law then we will uphold the law.
TV REPORTER: What you saw also, just there, was a confrontation between Colonel Sugulmalian and the General. Oh, wait. We're seeing the arrival of a tank now. We don't know whose side they're on.
While there may have been growing dissatisfaction in the military beforehand, when Arroyo declared martial law on February 24, it triggered a near mutiny just two days later.
TV REPORTER: Marine tank there...marine tank there - they just suddenly arrived. We don't know whose side they're on or what their intention is, all we know is that these soldiers lined up here are supporters of Colonel Querubin.
With several army officers taken into custody for allegedly plotting a coup d'etat, Colonel Querubin and his Marines battalion began an extraordinary stand-off with the regular army command.
SOLDIER (Translation): We just want to tell you what our grievances are. Why don't you just come in? I want to talk to them first.
SOLDIER (Translation): Don't talk to them! They're not within your chain of command.
SOLDIER (Translation): These people, sir, are my troops. I have to ensure their safety, sir. Yes, OK.
With tanks lined up against the battalion barracks and tensions high, the stand-off was only resolved when Colonel Querubin agreed to respect the new chain of command and surrender. The government now claims that the Marines had hoped to spark a people power-style revolt by joining students in their Friday demonstration on the day martial law was declared. It says that overt political involvement by the army could not be tolerated.
MIKE DEFENSOR: I don't know of any soldier or any armed forces, whether in the Philippines or any other part of the world, that you see soldiers practicing their political rights going to rallies, or openly speaking out against the mandated government.
But it's not just renegade soldiers, students, politicians and journalists who are speaking out against the Government. At this recent mass, held at the Congress building, even the priests wore protest stickers calling for President Arroyo's resignation.
Many of these clerics protested against the authoritarian regime of Ferdinand Marcos and they firmly believe that the actions of Arroyo's Government pose just as serious a threat to democracy as the dictatorial rule of Marcos.
BISHOP JULIO XAVIER LABAYEN, BISHOP OF QUEZON PROVINCE: The system has grown more powerful so that we ousted Marcos but the system remains, so the later politicians came in and they knew how to manage the system for their own interests, that's why nothing really changed - it became worse.
Trapped at the Congress building, Liza Maza takes to the roof twice a day to practise her yoga and prepare for the long battle ahead.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: That's the warrior pose. The warrior pose? Yes, that's my favourite pose, because, after all, this is a battle of wills.
Liza's interest in yoga may serve her well. If the charges against her are accepted by the court she and the others face many years in prison, but if she's fearful of that result she's not showing it.
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZA MAZA: The truth will come out. The government is so afraid, you know, that people, that everything will come to a head, that is why they are using the coercive power of the state to run against the critics and to silence them, to silence us.
In the two decades since Marcos was ousted by people power, the dream for a truly democratic and prosperous Philippines has failed to materialise. Allegations of cronyism and corruption have once again become the norm rather than the exception, and with the right to freedom of expression and political dissent under a cloud the fear is that the Philippines might once again descend into political turmoil.