PHILIPPINES: AROUND 20,000 PROTESTERS GATHER IN MANILA'S MAKATI FINANCIAL DISTRICT FOR HUGE RALLY TO DEMAND RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT ARROYO
Record ID:
646551
PHILIPPINES: AROUND 20,000 PROTESTERS GATHER IN MANILA'S MAKATI FINANCIAL DISTRICT FOR HUGE RALLY TO DEMAND RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT ARROYO
- Title: PHILIPPINES: AROUND 20,000 PROTESTERS GATHER IN MANILA'S MAKATI FINANCIAL DISTRICT FOR HUGE RALLY TO DEMAND RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT ARROYO
- Date: 13th July 2005
- Summary: (W2) MANILA, PHILIPPINES (JULY 13, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. HAS: CONFETTI RAINING DOWN FROM BUILDING 0.07 2. TOP SHOT OF MARCH 0.28 3. TV: CONFETTI RAINING DOWN FROM BUILDING 0.33 4. HAS: CROWDS AT PROTEST 0.39 5. HAS: PROTESTERS WALKING TOWARDS RALLY SITE 0.45 6. TV/CLOSER TV: BANNER "GOODBYE GLORIA" AND "GLORIA RESIGN" (2 SHOTS) 0.59 7. PROTESTERS WALKING HOLDING "GLORIA RESIGN" 1.06 8. CU: PROTESTER HOLDING POSTER "GLORIA, NOLI RESIGN!" 1.09 9. PROTESTERS RAISING FISTS 1.16 10. (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino/English) JOSE ALCUAZ, PROTEST LEADER, SAYING: "But more than stepping down, our main goal is to demand change, now! Not next year, not next month, not next week, but now." 1.24 11. (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) NIDA ISIDRO, SUPPORTER OF SUSAN ROCES, WIDOW OF LATE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FERNANDO POE (FPJ), SAYING: "All of FPJ's supporters want her to assume the position. She deserves it even if she didn't run in the elections. She is, after all, FPJ's wife." 1.36 12. (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) NANDING MARCOS, PROTESTER FROM FARMERS GROUP SAYING: "We need to have a snap election so that people can, once and for all, decide who should stay in power." 1.46 13. VARIOUS: MEMBERS OF LEFTIST GROUP DOING "SYMBOLIC EATING" OF TYPICAL FILIPINO MEAL TO HIGHLIGHT POVERTY ISSUES (3 SHOTS) 2.01 14. VARIOUS OF SECURITY ARRIVING ON STREETS (2 SHOTS) 2.12 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 28th July 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
- Country: Philippines
- Reuters ID: LVA899YJV8VTCYOVPSLQ7EFEO7Y1
- Story Text: Confetti rain down on huge crowds demanding
Philippine President Arroyo resigns.
Confetti rained down on protesters who have gathered
at the Makati financial district in the capital Manila as a
huge anti-Arroyo rally swung into full gear on Wednesday
(July 13, 2005).
Police said up to 20,000 people, most of them young
men, were converging at a major intersection along Ayala
Avenue, an eight-lane artery through Manila's business
district.
The protest promised by Philippine opposition groups
began slowly under cloudy skies on Wednesday as investors
and analysts watched the crowd's size as a barometer of
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's future.
Organisers said the size of the protest could swell
over the day to 40,000 or 50,000 -- a big step up from
recent rallies of 8,000 but far from the hundreds of
thousands who took to the streets of Manila to overthrow
presidents in 1986 and 2001.
Huge anti-Arroyo banners, streamers and posters were
scattered all over the rally site.
Makati is a showcase for the country's tallest office
towers and some of its biggest companies, top hotels and
smartest restaurants.
Wednesday's rallying point is just a stone's throw away
from the posh apartment hotel where hundreds of disgruntled
soldiers staged an abortive coup against Arroyo's
government in 2003.
Although all the protesters want the current president
to step down, they have different views of a post-Arroyo
scenario.
Wednesday's crowd included supporters of Fernando Poe Jr, an
action movie hero who died last year after losing
the May 2004 presidential election to Arroyo by 3 percent
of the vote.
"But more than stepping down, our main goal is to
demand change - now! Not next year, not next month, not
next week, but now," said protest leader Jose Alcuaz.
"All of FPJ's supporters want her to assume the
position. She deserves it even if she didn't run in the
elections. She is, after all, FPJ's wife," said Nida
Isidro, supporter of widow of Fernando Poe Jr, the movie
actor who ran against Arroyo in the 2004 elections.
"We need to have a snap election so that people can,
once and for all, decide who should stay in power," said
farmer Nanding Marcos.
A police intelligence officer said on Tuesday that
Arroyo's foes had a war-chest of 25 million pesos
($450,000) and hopes of expanding the protests to 1 million
people by Sunday.
Crowds above 20,000, analysts said, may signal a shift
up in rage but that Arroyo would not be threatened until
protests grew larger and more regular.
The army and police went on maximum alert on Tuesday
but their concern seemed to centre on Muslim militants or
communist rebels infiltrating the rally and others set for
this week.
Arroyo has other problems to deal with: allegations of
vote-rigging and graft in her family; rebuilding her
economic
team and base of allies after defections; and the prospect
of impeachment or a graceful exit via constitutional reform.
"Gloria Step Down," read a billboard that appeared at a
major intersection in the Makati financial district,
Jejomar Binay, the district's mayor, is no friend to Arroyo.
Beefing up a rally is not difficult in the Philippines,
with people often offered a fast-food meal and a small
pay-out to march and chant. Crowds have been known to lose
their unity when the food or money runs short.
Some opposition groups complained that police were
blocking caravans of supporters coming from the provinces.
In recent weeks, the leftist, student and farmers'
groups that routinely stage small, noisy protests have been
joined by supporters of Joseph Estrada, whose overthrow as
leader led to Arroyo's rise from vice president in 2001.
Arroyo appears to have found steadier feet after former
president Fidel Ramos stood beside her last week and
powerful Catholic bishops refused to join calls that she
resign.
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