MANILA, 25 June 2005 — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday likened herself to the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. and vowed to hold on to power despite mounting calls for her resignation.

She said she felt like Aquino because of the character assassination thrown her way by her political foes.

Arroyo has been besieged for weeks with resignation calls stemming from allegations she cheated in the May 2004 elections and that her family got illegal gambling payoffs.

“I feel humbled because they are assassinating my character as they have assassinated Ninoy,” said Arroyo at a Malaca?ang ceremony for the Benigno Aquino Jr. Awards for Nationalism yesterday. “And this humbles me, and it should humble us all.”

Aquino, popularly known as “Ninoy” was shot dead at a Manila tarmac upon his return to the Philippines in August 1983 to help unite the opposition against the Marcos dictatorship.

“Ninoy paid with his own life,” said Arroyo. “But such a sacrifice has a rejuvenating effect on any nation. His death awakened people from the fear and lethargy imposed by the dictatorship,” she added.

The death of Benigno Aquino, and subsequent fight by his widow, former President Corazon Aquino, culminated in the historic EDSA People Power revolt in 1986 that brought down the 20-year dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.

Arroyo also hailed the eight awardees for following Benigno Aquino’s footsteps “in their own way.”

“They have followed him to win freedom, to build a nation, to strengthen a society,” she said.

The awardees included Rogelio Florete, June Keithley Castro, Justice Florenz Regalado, Ramon Del Rosario Jr., and Judy Araneta Roxas. In the student category, the awardees were Kip Oebanda, Jennifer Teves, and Elvin Ivan Uy.

The awarding ceremony was part of the festivities in commemoration of Araw ng Maynila (Manila Day).

‘Worth Dying For’

Among those who attended the awards ceremony was former President Aquino, who said she has called for sobriety and prayers when asked for comment on the controversies rocking the presidency.

“I think the best thing we can do for our country now is to pray for each other, pray for our leaders,” she said, adding that people should “stick to sobriety” and “follow the rules.”

She was evasive when asked what message she has for President Arroyo. “I already talked to her,” she said in an ambush interview yesterday.

Like Corazon Aquino, Arroyo was swept into power through a bloodless “people power” uprising which became known as EDSA People Power II, which ousted Joseph Estrada.

Aquino had no mention of the current political turmoil in her speech during the awarding ceremony. Instead, she echoed the famous lines of her husband, Benigno, “The Filipinos are worth dying for.”

“I have carefully weighed the virtues and faults of the Filipino, and I have come to the conclusion that he is worth dying for because he is the nation’s greatest untapped resource,” said Aquino.

“He is not a coward, he values life, and he tends to give his leader the maximum benefit of the doubt,” she said. “Given a good leader, because he is a good follower, the Filipino can attain great heights.”

No Moral Right to Govern

Calls for President Arroyo to step down in the wake of allegations she cheated in the May 2004 elections have been rocking Malaca?ang for weeks.

Even political allies have started to question her presidency.

Former senator Raul Roco said Arroyo had “lost the moral right to govern” and “should now step down” for the sake of the nation.

Roco ran against Arroyo in the 2004 presidential polls but later joined the administration as consultant.

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye defended Arroyo. “The president will not turn her back on her mandate,” Bunye said yesterday.

“She was elected on a platform... She has completed Phase I of her reforms,” said Bunye in a statement. “She intends to see other reforms through.”

Illegal Gambling

Also yesterday, Malaca?ang palace denied charges by an outspoken Roman Catholic bishop that she accepted election campaign support from illegal gambling operators.

Arroyo’s spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the allegation could be part of a plot to destabilize her government.

Archbishop Oscar Cruz, a former president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, on Thursday quoted an unnamed witness as saying Arroyo received such support “in kind” and in cash when she ran for vice president in 1998 and in last year’s election, which the opposition claims was rigged.

“President Arroyo never benefited from the proceeds of illegal gambling,” Bunye said in a statement. “The timing of these accusations is in question as they are brought forth at a time of mounting efforts to destabilize the government. We are not accusing Archbishop Cruz of anything, but could he just be an unwitting pawn?”

He said Arroyo is committed to fighting the popular but illegal numbers game called jueteng.

Cruz, anticipating that his charges against Arroyo may be used by her opponents, told reporters: “It is clear that some people might take advantage of what we are doing but in my conscience, in my heart of hearts, I will not let myself be used.”

The bishop, who launched a campaign against jueteng four years ago, has presented four witnesses in an ongoing Senate investigation on illegal gambling. He said his sixth and final witness, who he refused to identify, will point to “the summit of it all ... the highest officer of the land.”

He said a fifth witness called by the Senate yesterday is expected to confirm claims by earlier witnesses, including one who said she personally handed payoffs to Arroyo’s son and brother-in-law. The two, both members of the House of Representatives, have denied the charges and filed separate libel cases against the accuser.

Street Protests

Meanwhile, About 5,000 protesters chanting “fake president” marched in the national capital yesterday to press Arroyo’s resignation but they were stopped by anti-riot police before they could get near the presidential palace. “Enough of corruption, GMA step down,” read one banner, referring to Arroyo by her initials.

The numbers fell far short of opposition hopes for a mass rally, supporting the view of most political analysts that the allegations against Arroyo have yet to spark the same widespread anger that toppled presidents in 1986 and 2001, even as the crisis has rattled financial markets.

After weakening to 55.86 against the dollar ahead of yesterday’s march, the peso rebounded to close at 55.65. The currency had hit a five-month low of 55.94 earlier in the week.

Protesters in the capital carried cardboard caricatures of Arroyo talking on a mobile phone — a reference to recordings of a telephone conversation the opposition says was between her and a senior election official during the May 2004 polls.

Arroyo has declined to say whether she had the conversation in which she appears to ask the official to raise her vote count.

“The immediate call is for her to come out in the open,” said Gene Nisperos, head of a grass-roots group of health workers. If it was her voice, Arroyo would have “lost the moral authority to rule,” he said.

The national police force was on full alert for the rally, called by a loose coalition of opposition politicians, leftists and Catholic groups. But there was no violence as hundreds of riot police, backed by trucks, blocked the route of the march.

A protest planned for today, organized by former defense secretary Fortunato Abat calling for the president to quit over allegations of fraud in last year’s election, was cancelled.

Pariah

In the central Philippine island of Cebu, pro administration Cebuano leaders yesterday denounced allegations of electoral fraud in the province and declared their erstwhile ally, Representative Clavel Asas-Martinez of Cebu’s fourth district, “persona non grata.”

A manifesto signed by Cebu’s governor and at least 60 other local officials branded the allegations raised by Asas-Martinez during the hearing on the wiretapping controversy as “baseless, unfounded, reckless and irresponsible.”

Martinez, during the congressional inquiry on Tuesday, claimed that there was rigging and cheating during the presidential elections in Cebu province.

Cebu have Arroyo an overwhelming victory during the May 2004 election by over 1 million votes over her closest rival, actor Fernando Poe Jr. Poe lodged a protest but he died late last year.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday presided over a meeting where the manifesto was prepared and later signed by her and by 28 town mayors, 26 vice mayors, three provincial board members, and nine barangay captains.

She said she would also personally deliver a copy of the manifesto to Arroyo when the president meets with Cebuano leaders on Monday in Malaca?ang. (Additional input from Inquirer News Service & agencies)