Thousands of protesters yesterday demanded Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo step down in the biggest anti-government rally since allegations surfaced that she fixed last year's election and that her family received kickbacks from gambling.
The government has denied the allegations, saying they were part of a plot to unseat Arroyo. Police nationwide and soldiers in the capital Manila were on full alert against a power grab in a country with a history of coup attempts.
Claims of payoffs to Arroyo's son and a brother-in-law from illegal gambling operators -- and an alleged wiretapped conversation between Arroyo and an election official to fix last year's vote -- come as she battles poverty, rising prices, a fiscal deficit, corruption and the lowest popularity rating since late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
In a rare show of solidarity, a wide spectrum of anti-Arroyo groups, including opposition politicians and rival leftist groups, joined forces in yesterday's rally, which was dubbed a "National Day of Mourning." Police estimated that 5,000 people took part in the protest.
"The rally for me can be seen as a measure of how far or how widespread the disgust is for Arroyo and her isolation," said Representative Teddy Casino of the left-wing Bayan Muna party.
Casino said his party wanted Arroyo out of office, but opposed a coup d'etat, a military junta or a "palace coup."
"This is the early stage of the struggle for the eventual regime change that is expected," he said.
However, he said talk of "an imminent downfall is not accurate."
Earlier in the week, a key witness testifying in an ongoing Senate hearing on the illegal numbers game called jueteng claimed she personally handed payoffs to Arroyo's son and brother-in-law, who are both members of the House of Representatives.
The two men have denied the charges. Arroyo's son has filed a libel suit against the witness.
To show she was not protecting her family, Arroyo immediately ordered government investigators to look into the allegations and file charges if warranted, saying her kin were not above the law.
On Friday, the dismissed deputy head of the justice department's investigation agency claimed he was the source of an audio recording that purportedly has Arroyo talking to an election official about fixing last year's election to gain a 1-million-vote margin against her closest rival, Fernando Poe Jr. Poe died in December following a stroke.
Samuel Ong, former deputy director of the National Bureau of Investigation, said that disgruntled military intelligence agents gave him the "mother of all tapes" containing the alleged wiretaps.
Officials said the recording was doctored to show alleged wrongdoing by the president.
"In the first place," Ong said, "our Constitution says that the [Commission on Elections] is an independent constitutional body to ensure peaceful, orderly and honest election. Now here comes somebody outside this constitutional body ... not only asking but directing him to do something."
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Ong's allegation was "part of a well-orchestrated plot to destabilize the government and eventually replace the president."
"We will not allow democracy to be undermined," he said.
also see story:
In the Philippines, people prepare for yet another coup
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
‘COMING MENACINGLY’: The CDC advised wearing a mask when visiting hospitals or long-term care centers, on public transportation and in crowded indoor venues Hospital visits for COVID-19 last week increased by 113 percent to 41,402, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it encouraged people to wear a mask in three public settings to prevent infection. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said weekly hospital visits for COVID-19 have been increasing for seven consecutive weeks, and 102 severe COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths were confirmed last week, both the highest weekly numbers this year. CDC physician Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) said the youngest person hospitalized due to the disease this year was reported last week, a one-month-old baby, who does not
RSS