MANILA, 1 November 2007 — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday said she is not resigning and told those calling for a “snap election” to wait for the next presidential election in 2010.

“The constitution clearly sets our next elections in 2010,” said Arroyo, who has been called the “Teflon president” for managing to survive coup attempts and scandal after scandal facing her administration.

She warned groups opposed to her administration that the public will not support unconstitutional means to change government before the scheduled presidential election.

“Let us not be distracted by the impatient few who believe they are above the rule of law,” she said, pointing to the “successful outcome” of the Oct. 29 village and youth council elections that she said “underscores the people’s firm commitment to democracy and strong political institutions.”

“That message should not be ignored by groups who are out to destroy the gains of a strong economy through extra-constitutional means,” she added.

Fresh calls for Arroyo’s resignation came in the wake of allegations that the government bribed local officials and lawmakers to ensure their loyalty to the president amid a new bid to impeach her.

The impeachment bid stems from charges that Arroyo condoned alleged bribery and corruption involving a canceled $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) contract awarded to a Chinese firm.

Arroyo and her officials have denied the accusations. She urged the public to ignore the noise of her detractors.

Arroyo has also sparked an outrage last week after she pardoned former President Joseph Estrada even before he could started serving his life sentence for the crime of massive plunder.

Plunder is punishable by death under a Philippine law, but Arroyo said Estrada has suffered under house arrest while undergoing trial.

The Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME, Movement for a Nationalist Economy) had broached the idea of making Chief Justice Reynato Puno head of a caretaker government, saying Arroyo was no longer fit to run the government, especially after her pardon to convicted former president Joseph Estrada.

Puno had turned down the proposal, saying he would rather remain in the judiciary.

The KME, which counts Catholic bishops as among its members, called for Arroyo’s resignation and the setting up of a transition junta headed by the chief justice.

Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona also joined the KME’s call for the Arroyo’s resignation, saying the president has lost her moral ascendancy to lead the country.

Meanwhile, the losing proponent in the scrapped NBN project has told the Supreme Court that President Arroyo abused her power to borrow in obtaining a loan from China to finance deal.

In a comment filed before the high court the other day, Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI) said the elements of urgency and necessity that must be present for Arroyo to borrow loans from foreign parties were not present when she entered into the NBN deal with China.

AHI filed the comment as a respondent in the petition of Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico asking the tribunal to scrap the deal for being unconstitutional.

AHI later filed its own petition seeking a temporary restraining order against the undertaking, and to compel the government to show its documents on the project. The Chinese government has offered to finance the NBN deal through a concessional loan from the China Eximbank. It, however, made a condition that the contract for the project be awarded to the China-based ZTE Corp.

AHI, which proposed to undertake the NBN project on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, has denounced the NBN-ZTE deal with China as being anomalous. Its stockholder, Jose de Venecia III, the son of Speaker Jose de Venecia, alleged in media and Senate appearances that the deal was attended by bribery, going so far as to accuse the president and her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo.

In its comment before the high court, the AHI said that the NBN was not an urgent project and that “there appeared to have been no real urgency on the part of the Executive Branch to procure a foreign loan to fast-track the project.” “In truth, the power to borrow has become so limited that it can be exercised only in very specific instances. Necessity and urgency appear to be the recurring themes in the various laws which concede to the president the power to borrow,” it said.

AHI also cited a study by economists Raul Fabella and Emmanuel de Dios of the University of the Philippines also showed that the NBN project was not really necessary. (With input from Inquirer News Service)