Philippine commission to probe vote-rigging charges

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippines leader Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo will form a truth commission to investigate vote-rigging
allegations in a bid to defuse the worst crisis of her
presidency, her spokesman said on Tuesday.

Civil society groups and Catholic bishops, a powerful force
in the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines, had called on Arroyo
to form a commission as a way to tackle allegations she cheated
her way back into office in last year’s presidential poll.

“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,” presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said
in a television broadcast to the nation.

Bunye, reading a letter from the president to Archbishop
Fernando Capalla, the former president of the influential
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, did not give
any details on the truth commission.

Arroyo has faced street protests and mass resignations from
her cabinet over allegations she spoke to the election
commissioner during vote counting for the May, 2004,
presidential election.

The opposition has aired tapes of what it says is Arroyo’s
conversations with the commissioner to ensure she won by a
respectable margin. She has admitted talking to an election
official but denied any wrongdoing.

The crisis has spooked investors in the heavily indebted
Philippines and last week, all three major credit rating firms
cut their stable outlooks to negative over risks to an economic
reform agenda that aims to cut the nation’s budget deficits.

The Philippine stock market was already closed for the day
when Bunye’s announcement was made and foreign exchange trading
was on a lunch break.

Arroyo, in a speech earlier on Tuesday to Filipino
diplomats, said she wanted to win back the public’s trust and
support, promising to step up programs to provide electricity,
water, cheap medicines and wide access to education for poor
Filipinos.

“I intend to win the people’s trust with good governance
and urgent reforms,” she said during celebrations marking the
Department of Foreign Affairs’ 107th anniversary.

Bunye said Arroyo defended her action not to resign despite
mounting calls for her to do so, including from former allies
such as ex-President Corazon Aquino.

“I believe that subsequent events and revelations may have
given a more balanced view to this question, and that my
decision to stay in my office is the correct one,” Arroyo said
in the letter read out by Bunye.