MANILA: Thousands of Filipinos led by left-wing and church groups turned out for a rally in Manila yesterday to protest moves to rewrite the constitution, which they say is a ploy to prolong the president’s stay in power.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s tumultuous nine years in office are scheduled to end with May 2010 elections, but her allies in the House of Representatives initiated moves last week to open the constitution to amendments, leading her opponents to charge that term limits may be scrapped.
Philippine presidents can serve only one six-year term, but Arroyo has been able to serve an extra three years because she took over the term of former President Joseph Estrada in 2001 after he was toppled in a military-backed revolt for alleged corruption. She then won her own term in 2004.
Her spokesmen deny that she plans to stay beyond 2010.
The opposition-dominated Senate has rejected calls for constitutional change at this time, but House Speaker Prospero Nograles says lawmakers can propose amendments without the upper chamber, setting the stage for the case to be decided in the Supreme Court.
Metropolitan Manila police chief Roberto Rosales said more than 5,000 joined the protest in Manila’s financial district of Makati, fewer than the expected 20,000. About 5,000 police patrolled the streets.
Rally organizer Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the left-wing umbrella group Bayan, said the protest was meant to “express in no unmistakable terms their vehement opposition to Arroyo’s charter change.”
“Let it be known that the people are united against moves to keep Arroyo in power,” Reyes said.
Demonstrators carried placards saying “Gloria forever? Never!” and “Gloria must go!”
Thousands more held similar rallies in several northern, central and southern Philippine cities. The head of the powerful Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, joined a parallel protest in his central Philippine diocese of Jaro.
Some of the sharpest attacks against the planned changes have come from Arroyo’s ex-defense secretary and presidential legal counsel, Avelino Cruz, who resigned in 2006 over plans to revise the constitution.
Cruz told ABS-CBN television yesterday that it would be “very tempting” for Arroyo to hold on to power and urged people to resist any move toward emergency rule that could abort the 2010 presidential election and extend Arroyo’s term.
Separately, five of the country’s top business groups issued a joint statement saying they were “appalled at the indecency and blatant disregard of the people’s will” displayed by Arroyo’s congressional allies and called on Filipinos to “vigorously fight and reject this diabolical effort to destroy our democracy.”
Proponents of constitutional reform, including Arroyo, say the country should have a unicameral parliamentary form of government instead of the current US-style presidential system because it would be easier to pass critical legislation.
Arroyo has consistently ranked as the least popular president to hold office since the 1986 ouster of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. She has survived four coup attempts and four impeachment bids.
Coup rumors have swirled again, leading the 120,000-member military to warn soldiers not to join the rally.
Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto said renewed political uncertainty might affect investor confidence amid the global slowdown.
