She's a tough one. But the oppositions seem to be very determined this time. Manila on alert ahead of rally http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/07/12/arroyo.protests.ap/ MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Philippine police and soldiers guarding the capital Manila went on alert Tuesday ahead of a planned mass protest by opposition groups pressing for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign. Organizers said the rally in Manila's financial district of Makati would unite a broad spectrum of opposition groups and parties in the biggest show of force since the political crisis erupted last month over allegations that Arroyo rigged the May 2004 election and her family received illegal gambling payoffs. Arroyo has apologized for talking to an election official before she was declared winner, but denies manipulating the ballot. She has defiantly refused opposition calls to step down despite the resignation last week of 10 Cabinet members. (Full story) She appointed a new finance secretary Tuesday in a bid to calm jittery financial markets. The rally Wednesday will gauge public sentiment and show if the opposition can muster enough support for Arroyo's ousting. One of the largest contingents is expected to come from the left-wing group, Bayan, and its allies. Renato Reyes, the group's secretary general, said some protesters from northern and southern regions of the main island of Luzon would travel in caravans overnight to Manila. Representative Satur Ocampo, of the left-wing Bayan Muna party, said the military and police were moving to prevent people from joining the rally, stopping one convoy headed for Manila late Monday in Camarines Sur, southeast of the capital. Authorities also warned they were monitoring "destabilizers" in Manila. "These scare tactics and black propaganda are proof that the government ... is shaking with fear," Ocampo said. "We are serving notice that if the government uses its dirty hands or iron hands to suppress the people's protests, that will just inflame them even more." About 6,000 police, including units from nearby provinces, would be deployed for crowd control duties, backed by 1,000 soldiers in charge of security for the Philippine capital, said metropolitan Manila police chief Vidal Querol. Querol said officials were concerned that communist "infiltrators" would create trouble, recalling the bombing of a political rally in 1971 that killed nine people and wounded dozens. The military's National Capital Regional Command went on alert Tuesday evening because of "possible threats" from communist rebels and the al Qaeda-linked Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group "who may take advantage of the current political situation and conduct terrorist acts," said Capt. Ramon Zagala, the unit's spokesman. In a statement, the underground Communist Party of the Philippines, which has denied any role in the 1971 bombing, dismissed the allegations as "outright lies ... meant to justify the use of force and dissuade people from joining street rallies." Party spokesman Gregorio Rosal said the rebels would not participate in the protest. Among those calling for Arroyo's resignation are the 10 former Cabinet members who quit Friday and former President Corazon Aquino, who was swept into office by a 1986 "people power" uprising that toppled late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The protest has been planned for several days while the nation awaited a critical statement from the influential Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines. The bishops said they would not demand Arroyo's resignation, but also told her not to ignore such calls. The bishops backed the ousting of Marcos ouster and rallied people to massive protests that forced Arroyo's predecessor, Joseph Estrada, to step down in 2001. Their statement, however, failed to mollify the opposition. ................................
Good riddance - if it happens. She's been a toady for the Catholic Church, so the Bishops will be loathe to oust someone who's solidly anti-family planning.
Cancel that one way ticket to LAX. She is digging in. Philippines protest numbers swell http://news.balita.ph/html/public_html/article.php?story=20050713141533549 She is standing resolute amid calls for her resignation. She will not stand down... even if today's rally sees half a million people taking to the streets," Michael Defensor, Secretary for the Environment and Natural Resources, told reporters. Ms Arroyo's problems stem from a taped phone conversation between a woman sounding like her and an election official, in which the woman asks about a lead of "1M". Critics say it is Mrs Arroyo on the tape, and that she was talking about one million votes, the size of her eventual victory in the election. Mrs Arroyo has apologised for a "lapse of judgement" in phoning an election official during the 2004 poll, but has denied trying to rig the vote. In addition to the election controversy, the president also faces separate allegations that members of her family took pay-offs from illegal gambling syndicates. To try and defuse that controversy, her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo has left the country indefinitely, and is now in the US. Mrs Arroyo is also losing popularity due to the poorly performing Philippine economy, and proposed budget reforms. ................
Hang tough Arroyo! Ignore the critics... we love you! Ignore the leftists, who use illegal wiretapped telephone conversations as their means of political persuasion! Be bigger than they are! We love you Gloria~!
That's a stretch! A leap... over the Grand Canyon! Leftists use such blackmail tactics as doctored telephone recordings all the time... it's in their playbook! Phillipine leftists.... ?