World | Philippines
Ex-presidents Estrada and Aquino seek Arroyo exit at
Two former Presidents, once bitter rivals, on Friday called on President Gloria Arroyo to resign over graft allegations.
- By Barbara Mae Dacanay, Bureau Chief
- Published: 21:29 February 29, 2008
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Manila: Two former Presidents, once bitter rivals, on Friday called on President Gloria Arroyo to resign over graft allegations.
Joseph Estrada and Corazon Aquino asked about 25,000 protesters in a rally at the capital's financial district to continue calling for Arroyo's resignation over alleged corruption in government contracts.
Estrad was convicted of $78-million (Dh286 million) plunder last year, and Aquino has been criticised for not including her family's 6,400-hectare sugar plantation in 1987's comprehensive land reform programme. "Too much. Stop it now," said Aquino in reference to Arroyo's alleged corruption, before students of Catholic and non-Catholic schools, who massed along Makati City's Ayala Avenue.
Aquino had used the same words when she called for the ouster of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos from 1983 to 1986.
Abrupt ending
In 2001, Aquino joined protest rallies that were launched by those who were angry at the abrupt ending of Estrada's impeachment trial at the Senate in late 2000. His ouster resulted in the installation of Arroyo, then a vice president, as president. Since his arrest in 2001, conviction of plunder and pardon by Arroyo last year, the popular Estrada has remained the talkative head of the opposition.
In Makati, the crowd swayed, applauded, and chanted "Erap, Erap" (Estrada's nickname) as if he is running for a government post, when he raised his hands that revealed wristbands that were embroidered with the presidential seal.
Organisers expected some 100,000 people to attend the rally. Some 5,000 policemen were deployed around the metropolis. Police and military personnel jointly secured Malacanang, the presidential palace.
In an earlier rally, Estrada said, "We have suffered through scandal after scandal, scam after scam. The Philippines has been branded as the number two most corrupt nation in the world and number one most corrupt country in Southeast Asia. When we go out of the country, it is a bit of a disgrace to admit that we are a Filipino."
Early this year, Estrada was surprised why an international watchdog placed him as the world's 10th most corrupt leader on a list led by Marcos.
Leftist political group Bayan, which also joined efforts to oust Estrada in 2001 said at the Makati rally, "Rejection of President Arroyo will snowball."
Although many people were not reacting against Estrada's presence at a rally against corruption, some Catholic students were shocked when Manila bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr called Arroyo "duwende" (a midget).
"He should show some respect," said one protester from a Catholic school who requested anonymity.
Aquino has succeeded in a campaign against Arroyo in Catholic schools. Members of "The Youth Act Now!", a coalition of 50 Catholic schools wore "anti-GMA" pins, bracelets, headgear and armbands.
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