Supporters of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo poured into a park in the capital yesterday for a much-needed show of strength that upstaged a recent rally by 40,000 protesters demanding she step down.
Police said about 120,000 people, many from government offices and Christian groups, came to Manila's Rizal Park under hazy skies to back Arroyo in what was billed as a "gathering for peace and unity for the rule of law." That was well short of organizers' goal of 200,000 but still much larger than the 40,000 who gathered for Wednesday's rally in the capital's financial district.
Dozens of buses and colorful jeepneys, some bringing people from adjacent provinces, lined seaside Roxas Boulevard leading to Rizal Park. The atmosphere was festive with drummers and other musicians offering entertainment from the grandstand.
Still, the message was serious.
Banners read "President Arroyo please stay" and "God bless the president and the Philippines."
Steadied by a few key allies, Arroyo has dug in her heels to ride out mass resignations and defections that a week ago appeared to be driving her four-year presidency to a rapid end.
"This is not really a showdown," said Mike Defensor, a close Arroyo ally. "We don't really plan to come here with a show of force to weaken the position of the opposition. More than that, our position is to call on our people for us to reconcile, for them to give the president a chance."
The opposition accuses Arroyo of cheating her way to victory in last year election and her family of corruption. She has denied wrongdoing but now faces the threat of impeachment by Congress, a prospect that worries financial markets.
"It does not matter how many rallied for Arroyo," said Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities in Manila.
"Since the opposition did not muster enough numbers to cause alarm, it has had to shift the battlefield to the impeachment process in Congress," he said.
Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, an Arroyo loyalist, earlier denied reports that city workers were promised 2,000 pesos (US$35) each to attend, fair common way of beefing up rallies in the Philippines.
Arroyo was not expected to attend yesterday's event. But the large crowd in the midst of the crisis will help her reinforce the image of a president focused on running the country and reforming the economy with the support of the people.
But House of Representatives minority leader Francis Escudero called the rally a sign of the government's duplicity. The opposition claimed the government restricted the rally on Wednesday by keeping busloads of opposition supporters from coming to Manila.
"They are now eating their own words," Escudero said. "They said, `Rallies are bad, they are destabilizing and only create trouble,' but now they are doing the same thing."
Arroyo's political enemies concede she is unlikely to be dislodged by marches nowhere near the size or social breadth of "people power" uprisings that overthrew Ferdinand Marcos as dictator in 1986 and Joseph Estrada as president in 2001.
Instead, they are warming to the idea of trying to impeach her in Congress as shifting party loyalties threaten her majorities in both houses.
Another way out of the crisis has been proposed by former president Fidel Ramos, who envisions a parliamentary system after changes to the constitution. Arroyo would stay on as caretaker until elections next year.
The president's aides have said that Arroyo is seriously considering the Ramos plan.
An impeachment motion needs 79 votes, or one-third of the lower house, to progress to a trial by the upper house's 23 senators.
An impeachment conviction in the Senate, effectively sacking the president, needs two-thirds of the senators' votes.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS