Philippines president vows to find truth of vote fraud charges
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-19 14:37

Philippines President Gloria Arroyo said she would form a commission to enquire into allegations that she stole last year's election but insisted she was right in refusing to resign.

Battling to keep her government together after a flood of cabinet resignations, Arroyo said in a letter to the country's influential Roman Catholic bishops that the commission would get to the bottom of the charges.

"On the matter of moral accountability and the need to restore trust, I have initiated the creation of a commission or similar body to look into the truth behind issues recently raised against me," Arroyo said.

"I now owe the Filipino people a huge debt of service, a debt that, to the best of the abilities that God has given me, I must now try to repay," she said in the letter, read on television by her spokesman Ignacio Bunye.

Arroyo has so far survived the scandal surrounding the vote-rigging allegations, in part because the bishops have refused to join calls for her resignation.

"My decision to stay in office is the correct one," she said.

Last month, the opposition released what were said to be wire-tapped conversations in which a woman who sounds like Arroyo is heard allegedly telling an election official to fix the outcome of the May 2004 vote.

Arroyo has apologized to the nation for making an inappropriate telephone call to an unnamed official but has denied committing a crime. She faces impeachment charges when Congress resumes on Monday.

"Such issues were raised at a time and in a manner that seems to give credence to the observation that various groups may be manipulating situations for their own agenda, perhaps with the aim of grabbing power," she said.

"I am hopeful that the process of searching for the truth will shed light on these disturbing matters as well."

On July 8, 10 cabinet ministers and advisers, including her entire economic team, resigned and called on her to do the same for the good of the nation. Two more senior aides quit on Monday.

The scandal has triggered massive street protests, and more are expected ahead of her "State of the Nation" address before Congress on July 25.

Influential former president Corazon Aquino has also called on Arroyo to resign, as have members of the business community who once backed her economic reform agenda.

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