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Manila: A lawmaker has moved a Bill in the House of Representatives calling for snap elections to be held well before President Gloria Arroyo's term expires in 2010.
Congressman Edno Joson said the Bill also sought the allocation of 2 billion pesos (Dh181 million) for the election of a president who would finish Arroyo's remaining term of two years.
"The holding of a snap presidential election will promote political stability," Joson said. Several groups, including left-leaning political parties in the House of Representatives, vowed to support the Bill.
Several groups have sought to align behind street protests that have erupted against Arroyo following the testimony of a former government official in the Senate.
The official had claimed that Arroyo's husband, Juan Miguel, and former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos, had demanded $130 million in payoffs from a company entrusted by the Chinese government to undertake a $329 million broadband project.
The witness, Rodolfo Lozada Jr, also told the Senate that the project was originally priced at $230 million but had been escalated to accommodate the kickbacks that were allegedly demanded by Arroyo's husband and Abalos.
Congressman Satur Ocampo of the leftist Bayan party has been leading calls for Arroyo to step down.
"Recent revelations about the web of corruption in high places in government perfectly demonstrates how crony capitalism works under the Arroyo administration," he said.
Arroyo has survived three coup attempts and two impeachment motions in the lower house of Congress for alleged election fraud in 2004.
In 2001, Arroyo took over after former president Joseph Estrada was ousted following military-backed street protests. She was subsequently elected to office in 2004.
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