THE PHILIPPINES: Philippine legislators started hearing impeachment complaints and fresh allegations of election fraud against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday, as a months-old scandal continued to paralyse her administration.
The justice committee from the lower house of congress began and then postponed a hearing on three impeachment cases against Ms Arroyo after squabbling over procedures, making a slow start to a lengthy process.
The sessions would resume next Tuesday and Wednesday, committee chairman Simeon Datumanong told reporters.
With the impeachment cases expected to be stuck in debate for at least two months, the opposition is trying to keep up the momentum in the upper house with allegations that Ms Arroyo used money from illegal gambling to rig last year's election.
Senators heard testimony from an army officer yesterday who said he witnessed widespread election fraud in Ms Arroyo's favour on the southern island of Mindanao, where the allegations against the president have centred.
Capt Marlon Mendoza testified that former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano bragged during a drinking session that a gambling lord gave 300 million pesos (€4.4 million) to help Ms Arroyo win a second term in the May 2004 polls.
Capt Mendoza, the chief security officer for Mr Garcillano from April to June 2004, also said he saw a presidential employee distribute cash to an election officer on polling day.
Ms Arroyo, due to complete her second term in 2010, denies any wrongdoing. Her allies have accused the opposition of paying witnesses to testify and the military said on Tuesday that Capt Mendoza was not credible because he was facing graft charges.
Capt Mendoza said he felt Filipinos ought to know the truth. "There were times when I had to close my eyes and ears with the way our government is being managed and exploited by some powerful politicians," he said.
Mr Garcillano has not been seen in public since shortly after the allegations surfaced in early June. Ms Arroyo's presidency came close to collapse last month, when most of her economic team quit and called on her to do the same.
The president appears safe for now, but the crisis has raised fears of damaging delays to economic reforms to raise revenues and cut debt as she battles for political survival.
Two bombs exploded in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga yesterday, wounding 26 people. Security forces blamed Muslim militants.
The first bomb, which exploded in a jeep, damaged shops and wounded 14 people. The second, in a room of a nearby hotel, wounded 12.