Philippine security forces were on alert for anti-government demonstrations expected on Independence Day yesterday, but President Gloria Arroyo said she was not cowed by threats against her rule.
Marines were guarding highways around the capital, while riot police were on standby at vital installations, officials said.
Left-wing groups and those allied with the political opposition threatened mass protests on Independence Day to call for Arroyo's ouster.
PHOTO: EPA
However anti-government rallies on Saturday failed to draw the mass support organizers had hoped for. About 2,000 people from various opposition groups converged on the Manila post office in what was a relatively peaceful demonstration.
They planned to regroup late yesterday afternoon for mass outside a Manila Catholic seminary where an ex-government intelligence officer had sought refuge.
The officer, Samuel Ong, on Friday came out in public as the source of controversial taped conversations between Arroyo and an elections commisioner conspiring to cheat in last year's polls. He said his life was in danger.
Opposition senators have called on Arroyo to resign amid the allegations she rigged last year's presidential polls to beat Fernando Poe, the country's most popular movie star and a friend of deposed president Joseph Estrada.
Poe died of natural causes in December, while Estrada, whom Arroyo replaced in 2001 after a military-backed popular revolt ousted him, remains in detention over corruption charges.
The president has resisted the calls for her resignation, and called for unity.
"I am calling on everyone to do away with dirty politics and focus our energies to improve the economy," Arroyo said in a speech to mark the country's independence from Spanish rule 107 years ago.
"My countrymen, the flag is the symbol of power and determination. Mark it in stone, I will show this power and determination to uphold democracy and guide the country in the right direction."
Arroyo's family members have also been accused of accepting bribes from operators of an illegal numbers game called jueteng, the same allegations that were the basis for Estrada's impeachment and ouster.
"The president should explain to the public once and for all who the persons are in the tape," said Joe Dizon, a prominent priest who gave Ong the sanctuary.
"The church's position is that it will give sanctuary to anyone who is in danger," he said, adding that he expected police to allow protesters to peacefully converge at the seminary.
At a reception for diplomats on Saturday Arroyo vowed to maintain stability and asked for their support.
She noted that she had worked hard to bring the country "back on the world map" and took her role "very seriously."
"I have felt the political heat, but I'm still in the kitchen. I'm still in the kitchen because that's where I belong, to continue to make the tough choices to turn this economy around and no one will deter me from that mission," she said.
She accused her critics of creating the image that the country was "nothing more than a private sandbox for political intrigue."
This view, she said, was "dangerous and irresponsible" as she challenged the opposition to present a viable alternative to her leadership.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
RSS