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Filipinos Celebrate as New President Takes Over
Gloria Arroyo is sworn in as the new president of the Philippines at the EDSA shrine in Manila January 20, 2001. Arroyo, formerly vice president of the country, was sworn in as the new president after a supreme court decision declared the presidency vacant.
Vice President Gloria Arroyo, a US-trained economist, was installed Saturday as the new Philippine president after disgraced former actor Joseph Estrada's government was toppled by a bloodless army-backed uprising.
The Philippine capital erupted in celebration as Arroyo took her oath at an open-air ceremony attended by hundreds of thousands of people who had held a vigil to demand the ouster of Estrada following a multimillion-dollar corruption scandal.
The Supreme Court paved the way for the handover by declaring the presidency vacant after the military and most of the cabinet defected to the opposition.
"I feel God put me in this point of our history and there is hard work ahead," Arroyo, herself the daughter of a former president, said after taking over.
"There is much to be done," said Arroyo, who quit the Estrada cabinet in October but remained his constitutional successor after the leader was accused of taking bribes and pocketing public funds.
Arroyo's installation took place at noon at an historic shrine dedicated to the peaceful "People Power" uprising which overthrew the dictator Ferdinand Marcos 15 years ago and inspired the anti-Estrada movement -- now dubbed "People Power II."
Arroyo, 53, will serve out the remaining three-and-a-half years of Estrada's presidency and is eligible to run for another full six-year term in 2004.
The United States and Japan were among the first countries to recognize the new government.
The diminutive convent-bred Arroyo, a onetime classmate of outgoing US President Bill Clinton at Washington's Georgetown University, said she would push four "core" goals, with a priority on eradicating poverty in the resource-rich archipelago of 76 million people within this decade.
Her other objectives are to improve "moral standards" in government, replace the traditional politics of personality and patronage with politics of consultations and leadership by example.
"We must change the character of our politics to create true reforms," she said.
Former presidents Fidel Ramos and Corazon Aquino and the Archbishop of Manila Cardinal Jaime Sin, all of them key players in the anti-Estrada movement, witnessed Arroyo's swearing-in along with an estimated half a million cheering followers.
Two and a half hours after Arroyo took over, the 63-year-old Estrada wearily left Malacanang presidential palace under heavy guard with his family, still questioning the legality of his overthrow.
Arroyo, a former economics professor and trade official, faces daunting tasks in rebuilding the economy and restoring confidence.
The Philippine peso hit record lows, share prices tumbled and foreign investors stayed away in the final stages of Estrada's 30-month presidency.
Estrada was impeached by the House of Representatives in November and put on trial by the Senate in December on charges of taking bribes from illegal gambling bosses, diverting public funds to private accounts, and violating the constitution.
A move by pro-Estrada senators last Tuesday to suppress bank records allegedly showing he amassed more than US$60 million in illicit wealth had triggered the rapid chain of events culminating in the mass defection of the military and cabinet members to the opposition on Friday.
There were fears of violence after Estrada ignored an opposition deadline to quit early Saturday as tens of thousands of protestors encircled his palace, with pro-opposition military helicopter gunships buzzing overhead.
Estrada eventually vacated the palace at mid-afternoon after a tearful farewell to aides and a thinning group of diehard supporters who had earlier vowed to defend the former screen hero from opposition groups marching toward the complex.
"While along with many other legal minds of our country, I have strong and serious doubts about the legality and constitutionality of her proclamation as President, I do not wish to be a factor that will prevent the restoration of unity and order in our civil society," Estrada said in a statement.
"It is for this reason that I now leave Malacanang Palace, the seat of the presidency of this country, for the sake of peace and in order to begin the healing process of our nation," he added.
Aides said Estrada had no plans to leave the country despite indications that he would be tried for graft following new president Arroyo's refusal to promise an outright amnesty. (Agencies)
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