MANILA, June 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The Philippine presidential palace admitted on Tuesday that the government was facing serious security threat as they were caught off guard with the wiretapping of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's telephone conversation.

    National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita both said while the government was taking steps to counter the surveillance of the president, the means to stop it were still being worked out.

    Gonzales said he was not aware of any equipment available in the country to bug cellular phone conversations in such a sophisticated manner.

    He said there were actually five tapes that would be circulated supposedly exposing the instructions of the president to an elections commissioners to commit fraud and ensure her victory in the May 10, 2004, presidential election.

    For his part, Ermita said Arroyo has ordered the Department of Transportation and Communications with the help of the National Telecommunications Commission to assist the National Bureau of Investigation in looking into the case.

    "This is a serious breach at the least I can say it is illegal. Now that has happened, our people in charge of communications security must be doubly aware of the need to prevent this from happening even in the future," Ermita said.

    Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said on Monday it was indeed Arroyo's conversation that was wiretapped but was "doctored" to make it appear she was talking to Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

    Bunye played in front of the media two compact discs that were supposedly the original and the faked or spliced conversations between the president and a political leader identified only as "Gary."

    But he could not say who "Gary" was and why the president was giving him instructions like delaying the canvassing of votes for senators and talking to Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos.

    In one of the conversations, Arroyo also asked about the results of voting in some areas and how the administration could possibly prevent the camp of late opposition leader and movie actor Fernando Poe Jr. from cheating. Enditem