Word: arroyo
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...Philipines: Arroyo's sacrifice
Revolution and martyrdom are powerful concepts in the Philippines. Few people recognize this as well as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. After all, she was elevated to the top job in 2001 through a popular uprising that ousted President Joseph Estrada. Last week, Arroyo attempted to switch from revolutionary hero to political martyr by announcing she wouldn't run for the presidency in the scheduled May 2004 elections. "If I don't make a sacrifice," she said during an event marking the anniversary of the death of martyred revolutionary hero José Rizal, "what will happen to our country...
...According to Arroyo, renouncing her chance for a second term will allow her to tackle the country's mounting problems without the compromises and pressures that go with candidacy. She says the so-called People Power II revolution that installed her tore the nation apart, pitting her middle-class and business-sector supporters against the impoverished masses who preferred Estrada despite charges that his administration was corrupt. (Estrada remains in jail at the Philippine Veterans Hospital awaiting trial.) "Since I am among the principal figures in the divisive national events of the last two or three years," she said...
...slew of recent explosions and bombarded by warnings of more to come, the Philippines these days has something of a siege mentality. Even the gala Dec. 15 opening of the new, $500-million Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal has been indefinitely postponed by a worried President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. "The need to take extreme security measures cannot be overemphasized," Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza said in a statement...
...Arroyo also held a press conference last Wednesday with five alleged terrorists supposedly responsible for bombing a Zamboanga shopping center last month. High-level military sources now doubt that the young men on television had the technical expertise required to execute this type of sophisticated attack. Police are still stumped about the Oct. 18 bombing of a bus in Manila. One possible lead, three tons of ammonium nitrate seized last week outside Manila, turned out to be part of a legitimate shipment of fertilizer. So far, Arroyo has been eager to take the fight to the bad guys. Her problem...