Opposition politicians yesterday called President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo "a liar" for breaking a public pledge not to run in next year's presidential elections and predicted she would be trounced by Filipino voters who value word of honor.
Arroyo ended months of intense speculation Saturday when she announced before a large crowd in her northern home province of Pampanga that she was deferring her Dec. 30 pledge to retire from politics when her term ends on June 30.
"It's bad to lie. We should set an example to our people, especially to children," said Representative Carlos Padilla, an opposition leader in the House of Representatives.
"If you want to violate your word, you can always offer 1,001 reasons," he said.
Arroyo's announcement is expected to set off intense political infighting in a country known for its rowdy politics. It has also raised concerns of possible delays in government-proposed legislation -- including the approval of next year's budget -- because of closer scrutiny by opposition legislators.
Senator Edgardo Angara, president of the opposition Struggle of the Democratic Filipinos party, said Arroyo fooled Filipinos with "a mas-querade, a charade," and said she would lose in the May 10 elections.
A party member, Senator Rodolfo Biazon, said her changed decision would turn off a lot of Filipinos, who value honesty.
Ex- senator Raul Roco who has emerged as a strong presidential contender in popularity sur-veys, said Arroyo's credibility would suffer. He urged Filipinos to guard against Arroyo's possible use of government resources and funds in early campaigning.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Arroyo expected such attacks, but put more weight on the country's welfare when she decided to run.
"I changed my mind because there is a higher cause to change society in a way that it flourishes our future,"Arroyo said Saturday.
She said she'd gained experience necessary for reforms, citing her administration's accomplishments in fighting drug and crime syndicates, poverty and high-level graft, as well as seeking peace with Muslim and communist rebels.
The constitution allows presidents to serve only one term. But Arroyo, elected vice president in 1998, can seek her own six-year term because she took power when president Joseph Estrada was forced to resign amid massive anti-
corruption protests she helped lead on Jan. 20, 2001.
Arroyo, a 56-year-old economist surprised the nation when she said last December that she would not run, expecting that would ease the crippling political divisiveness in the country and allow her to focus on reforms and solving the coun-try's problems.
But political and security problems have dogged her administration. In July, she faced down a mutiny by about 300 soldiers who accused the government and the military of corruption.
Arroyo has also been hurt by corruption charges against her husband, lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo, and troubled by reports of continuing restiveness in the military, and what she called intense politicking by the opposition.
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