Former Philippine president Corazon Aquino called yesterday for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo over a kickbacks scandal, saying she had lost the moral right to remain in office.
The comments by Aquino are a blow for Arroyo but should not materially affect her position. She has called for Arroyo's resignation before, over charges of cheating in the 2004 presidential elections, but the president was not affected.
"Our guiding light should not be an obsession to evict the president," Aquino said in a speech to the influential Makati Business Club.
"But in an environment where abuse of power closes all doors of legitimate redress, sadly we are too often pushed to the brink. That is why the most noble -- and least disruptive -- way out of the moral crisis would be for the president to resign," Aquino said.
"These critical times call for strong moral leadership, which clearly she is no longer in a position to provide," Aquino said.
Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said the Constitution, drafted during Aquino's presidency, offers a solution through the justice system and not through calls for resignation or trial by publicity.
"The search for the truth and justice must not be coupled with a political advocacy of resignation, lest other selfish motivations are imprinted to the call," he said.
Meanwhile, Roman Catholic bishops held an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss how to deal with the crisis over a telecommunications contract and bribery allegations implicating Arroyo's husband.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has urged the public to find out the truth about the allegations. But so far, they have not joined the calls for Arroyo to step down.
Arroyo has not directly addressed the allegations but has said her family does no business with the government.
Arroyo told her economic Cabinet team yesterday that she wanted a quick outcome of investigations into the allegations.
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