Opposition slams clergy over Arroyo kid gloves

Manila: Activists criticised Roman Catholic bishops yesterday for failing to join their calls for President Gloria Arroyo's resignation, and planned another rally to keep up the pressure on her.

After an emergency meeting that many had hoped would inject fresh energy into efforts to topple Arroyo, the influential Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines merely urged the president to take the lead in combating graft.

The bishops' group "refuses to acknowledge the roots of corruption", said Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the largest left-wing umbrella group, Bayan.

He said their statement was "like asking the Abu Sayyaf to lead the fight against kidnapping", a reference to Al Qaida-linked extremists in the southern Philippines who regularly take hostages.

The bishops, who played a key role in nonviolent revolts that ousted two leaders in the last two decades, slammed endemic corruption and urged Arroyo to rescind restrictions on officials testifying without her permission.

Senate testimonies have provided new fodder for opposition efforts to unseat Arroyo, after former project consultants testified that the president's husband and the country's elections chief benefited from kickbacks linked to an aborted telecommunications contract with China's ZTE Corp.

Yesterday, ZTE denied claims made by engineer Dante Madriaga that it paid US$41 million (Dh150 million) in bribes to officials.

During testimony before the Senate on Tuesday, Madriaga introduced himself as a former ZTE consultant, but ZTE said he "never directly took part in the NBN project operations".