Gloria Arroyo declared RP president, seeks unity

Gloria Arroyo declared RP president, seeks unity

Stuart Grudgings, Reuters, Manila

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, fresh from being declared winner of May's election, reached out to her opponents on Thursday for help in tackling corruption, poverty, insurgencies and a restive military.

Underlining the bitter political divisions Arroyo faces in her fresh six-year term, several opposition senators walked out of Congress in disgust before her proclamation as president in the early on morning. Her formal inauguration is set for June 30.

Police in riot gear blocked scattered demonstrations by leftist groups and supporters of Arroyo's main rival, action movie star Fernando Poe Jr, but there was no violence.

A joint session of Congress, heavily weighted with Arroyo's allies, approved a report by a panel of lawmakers showing the U.S.-trained economist beat Poe narrowly. His camp alleges there was widespread cheating in her favor.

"To my detractors, I appeal for unity and to my supporters for an open mind," Arroyo told reporters after her proclamation. "This is the time for forgiveness and letting go of the past."

After a marathon tally from the general election on May 10, the panel said on Sunday that Arroyo defeated Poe by one million votes or about 3 percent. Her running mate, former newsreader Noli de Castro, won the vice presidency by a similar margin.

Poe's allies accuse Arroyo of being a "bogus" president and the government says it expects more demonstrations in coming days. Officials say a group linked to the opposition was behind three bombs found and defused in Manila this week.

"This body has short-changed our people," Edgardo Angara, an opposition senator, said. "This body has lost its moral bearing."

Financial markets barely moved after Arroyo's proclamation, as the results of the vote count were well-known. The peso gained slightly against the dollar but stocks were flat.

Arroyo was seen as the most market-friendly candidate but investors have doubts she can push desperately needed reforms to bring in more revenue and privatize National Power Corp., which is losing around 100 billion pesos (US$1.8 billion) a year.

"One of the problems in the Philippines is that it's a congressional set-up, so even though technically her party has a majority, it's a very loose coalition," said Nicholas Bibby, strategist at Barclays Capital in Singapore.

"Vested interests is the best way of putting it."

Arroyo must balance the need to pay political debts and make peace with her enemies against putting the right talent in place to implement bold pledges such as creating one million jobs a year and eliminating persistent budget deficits by 2009.

After Arroyo managed only a slim victory over the politically inexperienced film star, analysts say she has to address concerns that her new term will not be fraught with the instability and lack of bold reforms that marked her last three years in office.

Supporters hope that once the political noise dies down, an emboldened Arroyo will push painful but necessary changes in key areas such as electoral reform and tax collection.

"Most of us want government to start working, focused on what is important and unbridled by contrived issues from past elections," Alex Magno, a political analyst and Arroyo ally, wrote in the Philippine Star newspaper.

Arroyo, a staunch ally in the U.S.-led "war on terror", was installed as president in 2001 when protests toppled Joseph Estrada as leader 15 years after the original "people power" uprising deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The return to democracy has been tarnished by graft, poverty, debt that has grown to nearly 80 percent of gross domestic product, conflict with Muslim and communist rebels, and a series of military uprisings -- the latest put down by Arroyo last July.