Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's presidency was in tatters yesterday, her base of support eroding by the hour, as former backers abandoned the Philippine leader and added to calls for her resignation over an election scandal.
While thousands of people protested against her in Manila's financial district, Arroyo defiantly vowed not to quit in a radio address, criticized those urging her to resign -- including former president Corazon Aquino, a close ally -- and said she was forging ahead by naming a new Cabinet.
"The Philippines has fallen into a dangerous pattern, where the answer to every crisis is to subvert due process rather than work within the system," Arroyo said. "This must stop. I was duly elected to uphold the Constitution and ensure that the institutions of the nation were strengthened, not weakened."
Despite her effort to present a business-as-usual approach, Arroyo appeared to be barely holding on, with prospects rapidly fading for anything other than a peaceful handover of power to Vice President Noli de Castro, who leftist groups said must show that he's not tainted, too.
A third of her Cabinet quit yesterday, telling a news conference that Arroyo has been crippled by allegations that she rigged last year's presidential race and has lost the ability to lead.
The Liberal Party, a key part of the ruling coalition backing Arroyo, also called for her resignation and said it would support an impeachment process if she won't yield power.
jump on the bandwagon
Two major business groups, the Makati Business Club and the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, also jumped on the bandwagon, as did a coalition of nongovernment groups that backed her ascension to the presidency during the 2001 "people power" revolt that ousted predecessor Joseph Estrada.
Even Aquino, one of Arroyo's closest supporters and the beneficiary of the first "people power" uprising that forced out dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, said it was time to go because the country can't afford another uprising.
"I say that their actions cause deep and grievous harm to the nation because they undermine our democratic principles and the very foundation of our constitution," Arroyo said. "Once again, we're ... perpetrating a system that is broken and will remain broken until fundamental reforms are put in place."
Arroyo repeated her offer to undergo an impeachment process, telling her opponents they should follow proper procedure and take their case to Congress, where her administration holds majorities in both houses.
"In the meantime, I will continue to focus on the people's business, which is getting our economy moving and creating a better quality of life for our people," Arroyo said.
The remaining two-thirds of Arroyo's Cabinet held a news conference supporting her.
navigating a crisis
Still, even those allies were essentially shadows, handing in the courtesy resignations she sought Thursday night to give her a free hand in trying to navigate her way out of her biggest crisis.
For the time being, the influential Roman Catholic Church and the powerful military -- also players in the 2001 revolt -- were on the sidelines, but bishops were to meet through the weekend, and the military hardly gave a ringing endorsement, only saying it would resist any moves outside the rule of law.
"Commanders should act swiftly against any behavior that challenges or breaks away from the chain of command," military chief of staff General Efren Abu said in a statement. "This is not the time for weakness."
The capital's police force went on full alert and additional contingents were securing the presidential palace to prevent rowdy demonstrations that could disrupt government services, Metropolitan Manila police chief Vidal Querol said.
The leftist group Bayan urged stepped-up street protests, which so far have been a fraction of the size of the two "people power" revolts.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam’s unique modern script, in part a legacy of French colonial rule. The history of romanized Vietnamese, or Quoc Ngu, links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonization by the French and the rise to power of the Communist Party of Vietnam. It is now reflected in the country’s “bamboo diplomacy” approach of seeking strength through flexibility, or looking to stay on good terms with the world’s major powers. A month after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) visited,
RSS