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Philippines on edge ahead of anti-Arroyo protest
Protesters began gathering in Manila's business district on Wednesday morning for what they say will be the biggest rally yet calling for Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to quit over election fraud allegations. Analysts have said that a crowd bigger than 20,000 might signal a rise in public anger against Arroyo and put her on the back foot again after her government was spared from collapse by support from a former president and the Catholic Church. "This is a rally for the immediate resignation of Mrs Arroyo," said Renato Reyes, one of the protest leaders, predicting a crowd of 40-50,000. "We're relying on mobilizing huge numbers so the president will be forced to step down." The military and national police force, concerned that communist rebels or Muslim militants may try to infiltrate the rallies in Manila, went on maximum alert on Tuesday. A police intelligence officer said on Tuesday that anti-Arroyo forces had a war-chest of 25 million pesos ($450,000) and hopes of building up the protests to 1 million people by Sunday. In past rallies, core anti-government elements -- leftist, student and farmers' groups that routinely stage small, noisy protests -- have been fortified by supporters of Joseph Estrada, whose overthrow from the presidency led to Arroyo's rise from vice president in 2001. Recent rallies, pressing allegations of vote-rigging in last year's election and graft in the president's family, have had 8,000 marchers at most, a fraction the size of "people power" revolts that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Estrada in 2001. Arroyo, who met her cabinet on Tuesday after mass resignations from her economic team last week, said she was committed to seeking input from various groups on political reforms to overhaul a system widely seen as dysfunctional. Philippine markets, which have been hit hard in recent weeks by the political crisis and this week by cuts in the country's ratings outlook, were braced for more volatility. "There's a great deal of demoralization going on in all sectors of society. The highest position in government is under attack, the reforms are also under attack, the country is being rocked to the core," said Monique Lecaros, a trader at SB Equities Inc in Manila. "I think it's going to be a big rally, but I don't think she will step down."
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