MANILA, July 7: Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, facing a political crisis over allegations of vote fraud, said on Thursday she has asked her cabinet members to step down but will not herself resign.
Arroyo said the new cabinet which she would appoint would “lay the foundation for deep reforms” in politics and in society but gave no details.
“First of all, I am not resigning my office,” she said in a nationwide address, 10 days after apologizing to the nation for improperly telephoning an election official during the May 2004 presidential vote.
“I am asking my entire cabinet to tender their resignations in order to give the executive a free hand to reorganize itself,” Arroyo said.
The new cabinet would be “given a free hand on governance, while I focus on the fundamental changes that we need to put in place.”
Arroyo, 56, is fighting for her political life amid allegations she rigged last year’s vote, a controversy that has triggered daily street protests, battered financial markets and fuelled talk of a military takeover.
Surveys released this week said a majority of Filipinos want her to step down.
The scandal sprang from taped conversations in which Arroyo and a senior elections commissioner, Virgilio Garcillano, can purportedly be heard discussing Arroyo’s winning margin.
Arroyo has denied vote fraud but last week publicly apologized for impropriety for calling a poll official during the ballot count. She later said her husband would go into exile overseas over separate corruption claims.
Arroyo said the political system “has degenerated to the point that it needs fundamental change.”
She said large segments of society had developed “feelings of disgust, hopelessness and even despair” due to political scandals.—AFP
MANILA, July 7: Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, facing a political crisis over allegations of vote fraud, said on Thursday she has asked her cabinet members to step down but will not herself resign.
