Tens of thousands of businessmen, students and militant workers joined together in a rare alliance yesterday for a general strike demanding that President Joseph Estrada resign instead of awaiting the outcome of an impeachment trial.
On Monday, Estrada, who is accused of taking illegal gambling payoffs, became the first Philippine president to face an impeachment trial in the Senate. But many business groups and workers fear a prolonged impeachment process would extend the country's political crisis and further damage its economy.
More than 20,000 labor and student activists gathered late yesterday near the presidential palace in Manila, carrying banners and burning effigies of Estrada. Many stayed into the night for a vigil.
One large banner read: "Mr. Estrada, give the Filipino people a merry Christmas, resign now."
Tens of thousands of workers, students and businessmen joined protests in key cities throughout the country, forcing many schools to suspend classes and offices to close.
Despite the protests, Estrada said he would not resign and was instead looking forward to answering the allegations in the impeachment trial, Press Secretary Ricardo Puno said.
"He finds it unfortunate because ... he has already made it very clear that he is not going to resign and that he will go through the impeachment process," Puno said.
Allegations by a provincial government that Estrada accepted more than 400 million pesos (US$8 million) from illegal gambling operators and 130 million pesos (US$2.6 million) from tobacco taxes have triggered the Philippines' worst political crisis in at least a decade and sent financial markets plunging.
At the stock exchange in the heart of Manila's financial district, stockbrokers wearing black arm bands walked off the trading floor, clapping their hands and chanting, "Erap resign," using the president's popular nickname.
Outside, they briefly joined activists in a street protest against Estrada. "If he is not going to resign, the market will continue to go down," said Romer Tan, one of about 100 stockbrokers who joined the hour-long walkout.
"It's about time we drove the message to the president."
In the Ortigas business district, also in metropolitan Manila, about 1,000 businessmen and employees, many in business suits, joined a rally led by pro-democracy activists. At the height of the rally, they used a laptop computer to send an e-mail message to Estrada asking him to step down.
"We urge you to make the supreme sacrifice that will get the country back on the road to recovery," the e-mail said.
Both stocks and the peso, however, gained yesterday on hopes that the expected start of a Senate trial would bring a resolution of the political crisis.
In his first response to the allegations, Estrada acknowledged last week that he had been offered a bribe but said he refused it.
In a session late Monday, the House speaker ruled that the articles of impeachment would be sent to the Senate without a vote.
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