Philippines' Arroyo in trouble as minister quits

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5910591&cKey=1120107917000

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo remained in deep trouble on Thursday as opponents planned protests over election cheating allegations and a minister quit in what could be the start of a cabinet revamp.

Her admitting an error in judgment during last year's polls and the exile of her scandal-prone husband from the country seemed to have done little to appease the opposition or calm investors, who sold down the peso to a five-month low.

Local media reported Arroyo would announce on Friday a purge of cabinet ministers seen as close to her husband, Jose Miguel, including Agriculture Minister Arthur Yap.

Yap confirmed on Thursday that he had resigned but said it had been his decision as tax evasion charges against him and talk he was close to Jose Miguel had made him "ineffective."

Sounds like Imelda...er...ah...Gloria is going down for the count.

[Douglas Carpenter]

1. I wonder how this will pan out....

I gather (having spent some amount of time in the Philippines) that Gloria was quite popular with the financial community; both domestically and internationally. This is in contrast to her predecessor, Erap(Joseph Estrada) who was extremely popular with the poor majority but loathed by the upper middle class and the upper class. Unfortunately, it appears that he really was a crook--however probably not a whole lot worse than Gloria's administration.

I understand that there are calls for a snap election--I expect that to be quite contentious if that were to happen.

I just hope the Philippines could bring in someone who has the mass appeal of Erap (or early Marcos for that matter) who genuinely had the good of the country at heart.

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[dArKeR]

2. I hope she gets the same fate as Marcos!

http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/Asia-Pacific.html

[struggle4progress]

3. Arroyo backers demand probe

MANILA: Leaders of civil society and business groups who backed Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's rise to the Philippine presidency in 2001 yesterday demanded an inquiry into last year's election results as thousands took to the streets calling for her resignation.

Arroyo, under pressure from the opposition to step down over allegations of election cheating and corruption by her family members, this week apologised for a lapse in judgment during vote-counting in 2004 and said her husband would go into exile.

"Sorry is not enough," said the statement by the group calling itself Citizens' Assembly for Truth. "We stand for the rule of law and for the constitutional processes to be followed. No one, least of all a president, is above the law."

It demanded an independent panel to investigate the allegations and that all senior officials at the election commission resign as part of government's electoral reforms. The collection of non-government groups includes the influential Makati Business Club, represented by Guillermo Luz, who was also secretary-general of the independent election watchdog NAMFREL. <snip>



http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=115960&Sn=WORL&IssueID=28103