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Entertainement / A2-1        

KC Concepcion:
Former Mega baby all
grown up as 'Belle'

 News / A2                

Bishop Cruz says
"jueteng" back
in 7 provinces

 Sports / A21                        

Paqcuiao, Murad settle
amicably; promoter
to pay court fees

 Across / A16          

5 top Red
leaders in
Luzon arrested

 World / A8            

Iraq worth
American
sacrifices-Bush
 
Peso crashes after Susan
rejects Gloria's apology

By Doris C. Dumlao

THE PESO yesterday crashes below 56 to the dollar after the widow of actor Fernando  Poe Jr., the main rival of President Macapagal - Ar- royo in the 2004 presidential  race,  joined  the opposition's call for Ms. Arroyo to resign.
     Currency dealers said that peso plunged to a

PESO/A18


PRESIDENT ARROYO without tears: "As with Ceasar's wife, my husband has volunteered to remove himself from from any situation which will cast doubt on my presidency...My family will miss him terribly, and I ask you to help pray that we remain strong as a family."

Big Cabinet
revamps due,
says GMA ally

By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
and Michelle V. Remo

"A VERY substantive" government revamp that would "address the concerns of the peo- ple" and the conveying of a constitutional convention are two major announcements that President Macapagal-Arroyo will make in the next 20 days.
   This was according to Rep. Joey Salceda, a presidential economic adviser and one of Ms. Arroyo's closest allies.
   The major initiatives to be announced every two days in the next three weeks show that she really regrets her "lapse in judgment" when she called up an election officer while the votes in the 2004 presidential election were still being canvassed, Salceda said.
   At the Philippine Business Leader's Forum, the President yesterday made her first major announcement-the forced exile of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, who has become a big target of critics because of his perceived meddling in the government affairs. (Story above)

BIG/A6

email: feedback@inquirer.com.ph                 Thursday, June 30, 2005         52 pages   /   6 sections   /   Vol. 20   /   No. 202           P18

President 'exiles' her husband

By Christine O. Avendaño

BENT on putting her house in order, President Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday announced that her husband, First Gen-tleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, had volunteered to leave the country to be far away from intrigues and controver- sies hounding the presidency.
     The President did not say when or

 

where her husband would go or how long he would be away. But she said that as a wife, she was "grateful" to him for making such a "sacrifice" to allow her to go about serving best the nation.
   Since the President came into power in 2001, her husband has been linked to controversies that included corruption charges. Recently, his name was dragged into allegations that he bene-

  

fited from "jueteng" payoffs, a charge he has denied.
    Public trust in the First Gentleman averaged only 22 percent in 11 national survey by Social Weather Stations from January 2001 to March 2005. An average of 46 percent said they had little trust in him, according to the SWS.
   Along with the President's brother-in-law Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio

  

"Iggy" Arroyo and son Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, the first Gentleman has been accused of taking payoffs from from operators of jueteng, an illegel numbers game. They all reject the allegations.
   Mikey Arroyo took an indefinite leave earlier this month from his seat in the House of Representatives amid the pay- offs allegations, which are being investi-

PRESIDENT/A11

Angry  Susan  calls
on  GMA   to  resign
 
SUSAN  without roses: Remember, Mrs. Arroyo, before the foreign investors can trust you, you must first have the trust to your countrymen, which, unfortunately you have lost. You have embarrassed the Filipinos enough.		   FPJ widow
ready to join
protest rallies

By Fe Zamora

A COMBATIVE Susan Roces yesterday demanded President Macapagal-Ar- royo's immediate resignation, saying it would be the "most honorable thing" the latter could do.
   "The gravest thing that you (Ms. Arroyo) have done is that you have stolen the presidency, not once, but twice," Roces said in a fighting speech at a conference in the historic Club Filipino in San Juan.
   She appeared to be referring to the then Vice President Arroyo's ascent to power in January 2001, after the ouster of President Joseph Estra- da, and the defeat of her husband Fernando Poe Jr., Ms. Arroyo's closest rival to the presidency in the 2004 election.
   Opposition lawmakers were quick to laud Ro- ces for her remarks, and at least 90 militant groups met to forge an anti-Arroyo coalition dubbed "Laban ng Masa".
   Responding to questions later, Poe's widow suggested that she was open to taking part in any movement to unseat Ms Arroyo: "I'm just an ordinary citizen. I don't have the forces. But if somebody will lead, and depending on the tim- ing, I will join."
   But she said any action taken must be well thought out.
   "Those things are not left to chance. Those things must be studied well," she said, adding that certain groups were now studying various options.
   Speaking in the Filipino and English and address- ing the President as Mrs. Arroyo, Roces said: "I cannot accept your apology. You have betrayed public trust. You do not have the right to lead the people."
   She said that watching the arrogant Presi- dent deliver the apology in a televised address, "I could see in your eyes that you again wanted to deceive us. You've again flouted the law for your personal interest, to hide the truth."

ANGRY/A18

'She's too beautiful to be sent to jail'
By Armand N. Nocum
and Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.

WHEN push came to shove, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez compliment- ed Susan Roces on her looks.
   "She's too beautiful to be sent to jail," Gonzalez yesterday said of Roces in the course of stating that the actress broke no law in accusing President Macapagal-Arroyo of stealing the pres- idency and calling for her resignation.
   He said the administration was bet- ter off dismissing Roces' scathing re- marks in a press conference at the Club Filipino as an outburst of a "griping widow."
   "She can keep on griping. It's very

  

clear that her husband was not des- tined to be president because he died of natural causes," Gonzalez added with a chuckle.
   Roces' husband, 2004 opposition standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr. died of a massive stroke in December 2004. He then had a pending protest at the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, which eventually dismissed the petition.
   Asked whether Roces would be charged dwith inciting to sedition, Gon- zalez said her remarks could just be "part of her own aberrations, or of her [right to] freedom of speech."
   Gonzalez said the administration did not fear the possibility that Roces'

SHE'S TOO/A18

  
Noli says he's
prepared for
the presidency

By Cynthia D. Balana

VICE President Noli de Castro yester- day said he was prepared to assume the presidency if President Macapagal- Arroyo resigned or was impeached.
   "When I ran for vice president , I knew that one of my major duties was always to be prepared in the event the presidency becomes vacant. From Day One since I became vice president, I was prepared for this," De Castro told the Inquirer.

NOLI/A6

 GMA allies in House foil attempt to play tape
By Philip C. Tubeza
and Michael Lim Ubac

ADMINISTRATION lawmakers yester- day foiled an opposition attempt to play the "Gloriagate tape" after consti- tutional experts told House investiga- tors there was no legal impediment to do so.
   Three of the five House committees conducting the investigation of the scandal voted to adjourn at around 5 p.m. yesterday although there was a gentleman's agreement last week that yesterday's hearing could last up to 10 p.m.
   Opposition lawmakers cried foul and claimed that there were "flying

  

voters" among the administration  camp.
   When the hearing resumes at 1 p.m. today, the opposition will question who can vote in the committees, House Minority Leader Francis Escudero said.
   He added that he would again move for the inquiry to play one version of the recordings submitted by Alan Paguia, former lawyer of deposed President Joseph Estrada.
   Eastern Samar Rep. Marcelino Libanan moved for adjournment after Paguia declined to identify the source of his tape and claimed that he could not say for sure if the tape in the House's custody was the one he sub- mitted last week. He could only identi-

  

fy it by listening to it.
   "Play it, your honor, because I know the contents of the tape," Paguia said, drawing applause and gales of laugh- ter from the gallery.
   Escudero then moved for the tape to be played but this was rejected. Escud- ero amended his motion so that Paguia could listen to the tape privately, iden- tify it and later play it to the panel.
   Surigao Rep. Prospero Pichay, an ad- ministration stalwart, denied that the majority railroaded the motion to ad- journ.
   "It is the opposition that is trying to railroad the playing of the tape. I don't know what script they're following

GMA/A10

   Palace says no desertions
as Golez quits GMA party

By Michael Lim Ubac

INVOKING the principle of "country before par-
ty," Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez yesterday
turned from friend to foe of Malacañang by re-
signing as chair of the powerful House commit-
tee on national defense.
   In remarks before the joint House committee
inquiring into the "Gloriagate" audio tape yes-
terday, Golez also tendered his "irrevocable res-
ignation" from the administration Kabalikat ng
Mamamayang Pilipino (Kampi), which he
helped organize.

PALACE/A10