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Arroyo lays out economic agenda | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has set out her agenda for her last three years in office, as thousands of protesters gathered in Manila. | |
Ms Arroyo used her annual State of the Nation address to list her government's economic successes and promise greater opportunities for the poor. | |
She pledged to try to bring peace to the troubled south, and also defended a controversial new anti-terror law. | |
Security was tight as some 3,000 people protested about her time in office. | |
Ms Arroyo has long been dogged by allegations of fraud during the 2004 election, as well as human rights abuses. | |
A 4m (13ft) effigy of her as a witch was burned by the protesters, who were prevented from gathering too close to the House of Representatives where Ms Arroyo was delivering her speech. | |
Political killings | |
Ms Arroyo told the joint session of Congress that her reforms to strengthen the economy had been adopted "at great cost to me in public disapproval". | |
"But I would rather be right than popular," said the president, whose term in office is due to end in 2010. | |
I would rather be right than popular President Arroyo | |
Ms Arroyo promised record funding for both "human and physical" infrastructure, to boost business confidence, create jobs and improve education, health and welfare. | |
And she said she hoped the Philippines would be able to join the ranks of wealthy nations in 20 years. | |
"By then, poverty shall have been marginalised, and the marginalised raised to a robust middle-class," she said. | |
Ms Arroyo, who was making her seventh annual address, said her government would also be pouring resources into efforts to bring peace to Mindanao region, where a Muslim insurgency is being fought. | |
She defended the Human Security Act, introduced earlier this month, which allows the government to detain suspects for up to three days without charge, use wiretaps and seize suspects' assets. | |
But she also called for legislation to deal with a spate of political killings that have brought international criticism to her presidency. |
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