Former Philippine president Corazon Aquino on Sunday led a "peoples' congress" to push for the non-violent ousting of leader Joseph Estrada, who is accused of accepting gambling payoffs.
Aquino accused Estrada of bringing the Philippines "to the brink of economic disaster" as she called on the 63-year-old beleaguered leader to "find it in your heart to go with grace and wisdom."
Estrada faces impeachment for allegedly accepting millions in bribes from illegal gambling syndicates.
But the presidential palace said it expected the economy and the severely battered peso to "stabilize" within the next two months, with millions of Filipino migrant workers expected to flood dollar remittances back into the system for the Christmas holidays.
"Redemption can yet be had if you listen to your conscience and admit your human failings, and then do your people the finest service you can perform at this crucial moment of our history," Aquino said.
"Let our people remember you as having made the supreme self-sacrifice of resignation," she said to cheers from the more than 1,000 anti-Estrada crowd.
She was addressing the "congress of Filipino people" made up of anti-Estrada activists at a Manila university. Organizers of the event said the forum was meant to "craft a common set of strategies and tactics that will lead to the non-violent ouster" of the president.
They said they will also lead a "network of political forces" in a massive public awareness program about Estrada's alleged abuses and shortcomings.
Organizers of the group also spearheaded a similar forum in January 1984, that led to the "people power" revolution that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos two years later.
Members of the opposition, church leaders, students, former government officials and representatives from various non-government organizations attended the forum and carried banners saying "resign now or be impeached."
Aquino warned that for every day that Estrada continued to hold on to power, the peso would continue to plummet, investments would stagnate, factories would close and the ranks of the unemployed would swell.
"If this keeps up, this president will have nothing more to preside over than untold misery for everyone," Aquino said.
Vice President Gloria Arroyo, who on Saturday forged a united front with two other opposition parties, was to attend the gathering later Sunday, officials said.
Estrada has been besieged by calls to resign after a former friend accused him of pocketing millions in bribes from gambling syndicates over two years. He has vehemently denied the accusation, even as a formal impeachment process is underway at the House of Representatives.
The scandal has pulled the peso to historic lows, hitting past the critical 51 level to the dollar, despite central bank intervention and successive hikes in interest rates.
Share prices have also hit their lowest levels in two years as thousands of anti-Estrada activists trooped through the streets of Manila's financial center in recent weeks.
Aquino said Estrada, elected for a six-year term, has lost the public's confidence by seeming to have lost any "sense of accountability" and by hitting back at his critics as elitist members of the opposition bent on destroying his 28-month-old administration.
She called on the public to unite against perceived "evil and wrongdoing," saying the fight would only be won if all members of the opposition have the "necessary degree of commitment for the cause and the courage to fight for it come what may."
The presidential Malacanang palace, quoting Economic Planning Secretary Felipe Medalla, said the country's economic fundamentals were intact and the financial markets' fall was "self-limiting."
"Once the market sees the president's strong political position, it will be very clear that the market will react positively," Medalla said -- MANILA (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
