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Philippines’ Vice President Urges Estrada To Resign And End Crisis
JAKARTA (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Philippines Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said yesterday that the sooner the crisis facing the country is resolved, the easier it will be for an economic recovery to take place.
As such, she urged President Joseph Estrada to resign while she gears up to replace him if he is removed from office.
Arroyo has been among the first top officials to abandon Estrada over allegations of bribery and involvement in illegal betting. She has resigned from her official duties while maintaining her Vice President post.
She said her top priority was to see the crisis over within the next few weeks. She expects the Philippines to come back to normal soon and the economy to pick up rapidly, though it depended on how far down the economy has gone.
Arroyo said it is easier to recover from an economy that went into a rapid tailspin than from an economy in a lingering depression. Arroyo who is an economist by profession and has joined a chorus of opposition parties asking Estrada to quit before the country collapses.
She now leads the different factions of the opposition and admits that her position as leader of the United Opposition Front has subjected her to suspicion and intrigue at every turn.
As the proclaimed leader of the anti-Estrada opposition, Arroyo has had consultations with various sectors in the country, including the Army and the left-leaning Bayan group. She said this was necessary to get a broad and wide-ranging consensus on the issues that are latent.
She said the task of the united opposition is to find a principled "compromise "among clashing ideologies and beliefs to prevent the use of force in the attainment of political ends.
"It is an arduous and difficult task, and inordinately trying for a nation beset by a leadership in crisis. But as one who is next in the line of succession, I cannot escape the fate of being subjected to suspicion and intrigue at every turn," she said.
"Our political stability and national security lie in accommodating beliefs and ideologies in the democratic process, not in shutting out those who do not agree with us," she added in response to criticism on her invitation to the leftist parties to join the broad based opposition group.
Arroyo believes the left is an important element if the opposition wants to topple the ruling LAMP party of Estrada in the coming general elections next year.
Arroyo said talking or consulting with the leftists does not make one a communist as she denied reports that she has formed a "shadow cabinet" with the Communist Party of the Philippines.
However, she said that as constitutional successor in case Estrada is impeached or resigns, she is prepared to take over the reins of government and lead it to recovery. She would be the second woman president in the Philippines if she captures the leadership seat.
Corazon Aquino, the first woman president of the Philippines, has given her total support to Arroyo and urged the nation to follow her footsteps. Aquino is still very popular in the Philippines.
On Friday, the streets saw more rallies with both pro- and anti-Estrada supporters showing their colors in Manila and other major cities. The opposition front said they are considering civil disobedience in an attempt to force Estrada to resign.
Opposition members in the Senate are forging ahead with the impeachment trial of the president whom they say is doomed, and would be removed from office by January 2001. Estrada, however, declared on Friday to impeachment senators that he was not guilty.
The embattled president has showed impressive calm in the wake of the growing call for his resignation. He has, however, barricaded himself in his palace in Malancang. Several hundred armed police officers have encircled the Palace and staged roadblocks in the vicinity.
Army intelligence said they have reports that groups of leftist (Communist Party) members have planned attacks against the palace. The Filipino police force has also gone on red alert in Manila and made rounds of searches for NPA members suspected of planning to bomb the Philippines presidential palace.
Police officials said they suspected the Communist Party and the NPA to have planned a bloody take over of the palace in a bid to remove the president from office. The Communist Party has denied the reports.
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