Looks like Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s days as President of the Philippines are numbered. A third of her Cabinet–ten members–quit and urged her to step down amidst bombshell allegations of voter fraud. The story has received little international press attention. I guess Philippine corruption is so dog-bites-man it doesn’t merit front-page news.

According to Inside PCIJ, the cabinet members who quit were:

* Florencio Abad, Education
* Juan Santos, Trade and Industry
* Cesar Purisima, Finance
* Emilia Boncodin, Budget and Management
* Imelda Nicolas, National Anti-Poverty Commission
* Ging Deles, Peace Adviser
* Dinky Soliman, Social Welfare and Development
* Rene Villa, Agrarian Reform
* Alberto Lina, Bureau of Customs
* Guillermo Parayno, Bureau of Internal Revenue

Not long after the resignations, the Makati Business Club and the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines issued statements calling on Arroyo to resign.

So did former president Corazon Aquino, who Arroyo has called a role model in the past.

Here’s Reuters’ take:

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s hold on the Philippine presidency looked increasingly tenuous on Friday as members of her sacked cabinet, an iconic former president and an influential business group called on her to quit.

Arroyo, under mounting pressure to resign over allegations she tried to influence the vote counting in last year’s presidential election and that members of her family took payoffs from illegal gambling, vowed on Thursday she would not step down.

The allegations against Arroyo were fueled by audiotaped telephone conversations between Arroyo and a top election official. Arroyo’s Justice Secretary unsuccessfully attempted to halt the dissemination of the tapes, which were posted to the Internet. The blog of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Online played an instrumental role in shedding light on the corruption and forcing the story into the public eye.

Reuters says the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines is meeting this weekend. If the Bishops call on Arroyo to resign, she’ll probably be out by the end of the weekend.

One question for the U.S. is whether Arroyo’s successor will be any better on the War on Terror. Despite paying lip service to combating the Islamist threat on the islands, Arroyo capitulated during her tenure. And the world has suffered for it.

***

Previous:
-Gloriagate update
-The Filipino Watergate?
- Is the Philippines sabotaging the War on Terror again?
- How do you say “weasel” in Tagalog?
- The $6 million cutthroat payoff
- The Philippines goes wobbly

comments (0)   trackbacks (3)