Filipinos face the prospect of a protracted power struggle that could endanger the central planks of the government's legislative programme despite brave words from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday in a state of the nation address.
The gloves came off between the opposition and the ruling party after the latter succeeded in grabbing back control of the Senate by enticing an opposition lawmaker to switch sides.
The legislative power struggle could derail the economic recovery and result in more poverty.
Mrs Arroyo, in her speech to the country yesterday before Congress, downplayed the expected intransigence of the opposition. 'I expect to get from Congress the same co-operation that it extended to me last year,' she said.
But leading opposition Senator Edgardo Angara blasted her 'politics of piracy' and said their aim was to replace her in the 2004 presidential polls.
Under the constitution limiting presidents to a single six-year term, Mrs Arroyo can run again as she was not elected but merely took over when her predecessor Joseph Estrada stepped down. Senator Angara has accused her of using government resources to run an early campaign for re-election.
