Former Philippine president confident Arroyo will be forced to step down

Associated Press ,  Manila   |  Sun, 03/02/2008 7:24 PM  |  World

A former Philippine leader and emocracy icon said Sunday she expected public protests over a
corruption scandal to eventually force current President Gloria acapagal Arroyo to step down.

But former President Corazon Aquino told more than 1,000 students, nuns and priests, who gathered to hear her speak after a Mass held at a Roman Catholic university in Manila, that apathy among Filipinos could stall efforts to remove the president.

"We haven't fully awakened our countrymen, who seem to refuse to be roused from their slumber," Aquino said.

Aquino, who helped lead the country's 1986 "people power" revolt that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, said she was not disheartened.

"If we were able to bring down a dictator to his knees, maybe it's easier now because there is no martial law," she said.

Aquino's comments follow the failure of Arroyo's opponents to muster enough public support to replicate the mammoth but nonviolent protests that toppled Marcos in 1986 and Joseph Estrada in 2001.

She thanked young Filipinos who have begun to speak out against corruption, and urged graft witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and his amily to be patient amid their current difficulties. Lozada
testified in the Senate that a major telecommunications deal endorsed by Arroyo was tainted with corruption.

That deal involved a US$330 million (euro223 million) broadband contract with China's ZTE Corp. that Arroyo was forced to cancel.

Former consultants on the deal have alleged that the president's husband and the country's elections chief - who has since quit - benefited from huge kickbacks linked to the aborted contract.

At least one witness has testified under oath before the opposition-dominated Senate that Arroyo herself may have received kickbacks, but the witness has failed to produce any evidence.

Arroyo and the others have denied any wrongdoing.

The nationally televised Senate hearings have led to street protests, including an interfaith rally that drew tens of thousands of demonstrators to Manila's main financial district on Friday.

Opposition, religious and left-wing groups have vowed to stage
more protests.

Arroyo's chief legal counsel, Sergio Apostol, said the president was confident her opponents could not draw enough people to the streets to oust her.

The military eased a security alert in Manila on Sunday to show things were returning to normal after protests last week.

After Sunday's mass, Lozada told the crowd at the University of Santo Tomas that he continued to get death threats from unspecified people. Lozada also promised not to back off from his Senate testimony.

"Behind my smile in front of TV cameras is a very difficult and sad life. Harassment, mudslinging and death threats against me continue," he said.

In her seven years in power, Arroyo has survived four attempted power grabs and three opposition impeachment bids over alleged corruption and vote-rigging.

Analysts have attributed her staying power to the refusal of the powerful military and the Catholic church to join calls for her ouster. Those institutions played key roles in the revolts that
ousted Marcos and Estrada.(**)

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