Anti-Arroyo protests fizzle on Independence day

MANILA - Filipinos marked their independence day on Sunday under a cloud of political tension as the opposition called on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to quit over allegations of election cheating and corruption.

Philippine security forces were on maximum alert in Manila and the presidential palace had been fortified with barbed wire and container trucks. But by late Sunday afternoon, there had been no sign of any significant opposition protests.

On Saturday, about 5000 marchers, under the gaze of anti-riot police, sang songs and chanted slogans calling for Arroyo to step down to avoid dividing the country.

"She should face the people to tell us whether she cheated in the election," Father Joe Dizon, a Roman Catholic priest linked to the opposition, said during mass for a few dozen supporters on Sunday.

He called on Filipinos to stage anti-Arroyo protests "in their factories, in schools and in their communities".

Nothing has been proven against the president or her family, who have denied any wrong-doing. But the opposition has been trying to whip up the kind of anger behind "people power" uprisings that toppled leaders in 1986 and 2001.

With inflation high and corruption pervasive, Arroyo's ratings show she is the most unpopular president since dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown 19 years ago.

Analysts have said the allegations are unlikely to be enough to unseat Arroyo but could distract her government from its economic reform agenda.

"I am calling to all our countrymen: Let us discard dirty politics and concentrate on pushing our economy, because pushing our economy is the key to our complete independence," Arroyo told a crowd of a few thousand at Manila's Luneta Park as part of events celebrating the end of Spanish rule in 1898.

Speaking entirely in the Tagalog language, Arroyo looked tired and her audience of state workers, students, soldiers, police and Boy Scouts reacted with polite applause.

A Senate inquiry has heard allegations Arroyo's husband, son and brother-in-law took kickbacks from illegal gambling. Last week, audio recordings surfaced that the opposition said bolstered its claims Arroyo cheated in the May 2004 election.

The opposition are united in the goal of getting rid of Arroyo but divided on how to do it and who would replace her.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer, reflecting on the country's independence 107 years ago and the current political intrigue, said in an editorial on Sunday the cure for an immature democracy was not to destroy the system.

"A military junta, therefore, or variations on the same strongman theme, cannot be in the national interest," it said.

"Proposals that force a caretaker government upon us, or fantasise about the return to power of a discredited leader, cannot be in the national interest either."

Arroyo rose from vice president when Joseph Estrada was ousted as leader in 2001 as he faced graft allegations. Arroyo won a fresh term last year by beating Fernando Poe Jr, a movie star and friend of Estrada, by 3 per cent of the vote.

The powerful Catholic Church has expressed anger over what it says is rampant corruption in Arroyo's government.

Church officials are also giving sanctuary to Samuel Ong, a former intelligence official claiming to have copies of tapes suggesting Arroyo condoned cheating in the election.

A bishop in Manila said on Saturday that allowing Ong to stay at one of its seminaries did not mean the Church supported his claims or his cause.

About 50 opposition supporters marched to the seminary on Sunday and then heard mass from Dizon. They were easily outnumbered by police and reporters.

- REUTERS