Philippine law-makers start probe on Arroyo tapes

[struggle4progress]

Tue June 21, 2005 3:10 PM GMT+05:30
By Manny Mogato

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine law-makers quizzed the spokesman for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday as an inquiry began into allegations of election fraud that have shaken financial markets and raised the spectre of mass protests.

The national police said earlier it had put its 115,000-member forces on full alert ahead of large protests planned for later this week by anti-Arroyo forces calling for the president to break her silence on the allegations.

Arroyo, whose ratings are at record lows, promised on Monday to comment on recordings of a telephone conversation which the opposition says proves she tried to cheat her way to poll victory last year, but added it was not yet an appropriate time.

Her spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, told the congressional inquiry on Tuesday that he was still not sure whether it was Arroyo's voice on the wiretapped recording in which she appears to pressure an election official to secure a better winning margin. <snip>

http://www.reuters.co.in/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp?type=worldNews&localeKey=en_IN&storyID=8848991


Anti-Arroyo forces to hold large protest
National

Leftist activists, church-backed groups and opposition leaders said Monday they would clog Metro Manila with thousands of protesters later this week to raise pressure on President Arroyo to break her silence on poll fraud allegations.

Mrs. Arroyo, whose ratings are at record lows, has declined to say whether it is her voice on recordings of a telephone conversation, which the opposition says bolsters its claims she cheated her way to victory in last year's elections.

In Hong Kong, President Arroyo addressed the topic for the first time in two weeks, saying she "will make the appropriate statements on the issues at the appropriate time."

The scandal, which follows allegations Mrs. Arroyo's family members took illegal gambling payoffs, has sparked rumors of coup attempts and mass protests that have unnerved investors and helped to send the peso to a five-month low against the dollar. <snip>

http://news.balita.ph/html/public_html/article.php?story=20050621160509883