MANILA, 12 June 2005 — Thousands of Filipinos marched in the capital yesterday calling on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign over corruption allegations.
Watched closely by hundreds of baton-wielding anti-riot police, the protesters, who included activists, church-backed groups and opposition leaders, sang songs and chanted slogans calling for Arroyo to step down to avoid dividing the country and prevent a slide into anarchy.
“She should consider quitting voluntarily,” said Linda Cordova, a mother of three. “For the good of the country, for the good of the people, Arroyo has to go now.”
Red, yellow, white and blue banners, representing several groups opposed to Arroyo, provided shade from the scorching sun as 5,000 protesters listened to fiery speeches by opposition leaders at a public park before dispersing peacefully.
At a news conference, left-wing Congressman Rafael Mariano called on the Filipino people to exert “all efforts” to remove Arroyo saying the president had “no moral and legitimate basis to remain in power.” “The controversial tape, surfaced by intelligence people themselves, is the strongest evidence that Arroyo did cheat in the last elections,” he said.
Liza Maza, a left-wing congresswoman, said in a statement that the best thing Arroyo could do is to resign. “The longer she clings on to power the harder she will fall.”
“These wayward elements hate the president, but we ask them: Do they have an alternative leader or platform of government to offer,” Arroyo’s spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement. He said the president was unperturbed by the latest tactics employed by her critics to derail her reform agenda.
Arroyo hosted a diplomatic reception yesterday after trying to consolidate her own supporters, holding meetings with hundreds of local officials, leaders of her political party and with a group of Protestant ministers.
Hundreds of anti-riot teams had fanned out across Manila ahead of the rally, which was organized by the Roman Catholic Church, a powerful force in the country of 80 million people, the majority of them Catholics.
Soldiers were also guarding highways leading to the capital, and the presidential palace has been turned into a fortress, ringed with barbed wire, while container trucks blocked the main road to the country’s seat of power.
A Senate inquiry has heard allegations that Arroyo’s husband, son and brother-in-law took kickbacks from illegal gambling. This week, audio recordings surfaced that the opposition said bolstered its claims Arroyo cheated in last year’s election.
The Roman Catholic Church has expressed anger over what it says is rampant corruption in Arroyo’s government and has exposed what it believes are links between the president’s family and illegal gambling.
Church officials are also giving sanctuary to a former intelligence official claiming to have copies of audio tapes suggesting Arroyo condoned cheating in May 2004 elections.
— Additional input from agencies
