Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will lead today the 16th anniversary celebrations of the 1986 People Power Revolution that ousted the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, an official palace statement said.

The four-day peaceful uprising culminated on February 25, 1986, when the 20-year Marcos dictatorship fell as he and his family fled to Hawaii, U.S.

The rites will comprise day-long celebrations to mark People Power I, including traditional military honours for President Arroyo, a signing of a memorandum of agreement between various sectoral group for the establishment of the People Power Freedom Centre, and religious celebrations, the palace said.

Various religious group leaders will also gather at the Edsa Shrine, a monument in the middle of a Metro Manila crossroads which commemorates People Power.

The religious sector, particularly the Roman Catholic clergy led by Jaime Cardinal Sin, who remains the prelate of Manila until now, played a crucial role in calling on Filipinos on February 23, 1986, to take to the streets to support a military revolt against Marcos.

The revolt was led by then Gen. Fidel Ramos of the Philippine Constabulary and then defence minister, Juan Ponce Enrile.

Former presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos, who are also noted as "Edsa Heroes", will also take part in the celebrations.

Aquino emerged president in the aftermath of the February 23-25, 1986, uprising.

The military mutinied against the dictator amidst widespread accusations that he had cheated during the snap elections in January that year in which Aquino, widow of anti-Marcos politician, Senator Benigno Aquino, was the political opposition's candidate for president.

However, not every political group will be celebrating the anniversary of People Power I. Militant groups led by the left-leaning Patriotic Alliance (Bayan) will, instead, stage nationwide protests to denounce Arroyo's "puppetry" to American interests.

"Arroyo's puppetry is worse than Marcos. We hope to remember and rekindle the struggle for justice, democracy, sovereignty and freedom," said Bayan Secretary General, Teodoro Casino.

Casino criticised the Church hierarchy and the Arroyo administration for banning any political activity at the Edsa People Power Shrine, saying this made the official commemorations a sham. Casino noted that the U.S.-backed Marcos dictatorship unleashed a "most repressive plunderous reign of terror".

"Now, we have Arroyo following Marcos' footsteps with her obeisance to the U.S. government and over-reliance on the military," he said.

Leftist groups have been criticising Arroyo for allowing the American military to intervene in an internal matter such as neutralising the extremist Abu Sayyaf in southern Philippines.