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Filipinos Hold Rally Against President
Tens of thousands of Filipinos attended a rally organized by the Manila Archdiocese Saturday in Manila aimed at praying "for President Joseph Estrada's enlightenment and his resignation from his post."
Philippine Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos also joined some 100,000 people in the rally outside the Edsa Shrine.
The Philippine government deployed more than 3,000 security personnel to secure the prayer rally. Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora said earlier that he had reminded the police to exercise " absolutely maximum tolerance" in the rally.
The rally came a day after more than 40 congressmen resigned from Estrada's ruling LAMP party, saying they will support an impeachment motion in the House of Representatives based on allegations of a provincial governor that Estrada pocketed millions of US dollars.
Ilocos Sur Governor Luis Singson said last month that he sent Estrada more than 8.6 million dollars in gambling payoffs and 2.8 million dollars from provincial tobacco taxes in the last two years.
The mass resignation brought the number of opposition congressmen to about 100, far beyond the required number of 73, or one-third of the house, to send the impeachment complaint to the senate for a trial.More than 50 solons had already signed the impeachment case.
A vote by two-thirds of the 22-member senate is needed to remove the president from office. So far, 11 senators have expressed their intention to vote against the president.
Estrada has maintained that he will not resign but would face his accusers in the impeachment proceedings against him, which he noted,are the constitutionally mandated process that everyone should respect.
The political crisis has seriously affected business confidence in the country. The Philippine peso hit a record low earlier this week and stocks were trading at near two-year lows.
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