Outgoing Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo deflected allegations of corruption and mismanagement during her 9-year rule, saying Saturday that she will leave behind an economically robust and politically stable country. In one of her last major speeches before stepping down June 30, Arroyo spoke to diplomats and government officials at a reception marking the country's 112th Independence Day. She said she did not seek the highest office even though she was vice president in 2001 when then-President Joseph Estrada was forced to step down amid massive anti-corruption protests. Estrada has accused Arroyo of plotting with the military to remove him from power long before the accusations against him surfaced. “It was thrust upon me. Rather than shirk from the onerous task, I rolled up my sleeves, determined to turn the Philippines around,” Arroyo said. Although consistently ranked in opinion polls as the most unpopular leader since dictator Ferdinand Marcos was toppled in 1986, Arroyo said she had reversed the country's economic decline by raising revenues, investment in infrastructure and posting 37 quarters of growth before organizing last month's first nationwide automated elections. One of Arroyo's sharpest critics and her former student of economics, Sen. Benigno Aquino III _ the son of the two of the country's democracy icons _ has been proclaimed winner of the May 10 elections after promising to eradicate corruption and form a commission to investigate Arroyo. “We will leave a legacy of hard work, a strong and stable economy and renewed global engagement, major investments in health care, education and physical infrastructure,” Arroyo said. “I know much work remains to be done, but I am determined to turn over to a new government a new Philippines, one that is ready for the challenges of bringing the nation to the verge of first world in 20 years.” – APThe speech contained the same references that Arroyo has used for years and skirted over the contentious parts that cast doubt over her claims of improving the political stability or livelihoods in a nation of 94 million where a third of the population live on $1 a day and 3,000 leave daily for jobs abroad. Arroyo did not mention four coup attempts by disgruntled officers complaining of low pay and graft, or failed efforts by the opposition to impeach her in Congress over alleged vote fraud in 2004 elections, human rights abuses that activists say killed about 1,000 pro-left sympathizers since she took office and corruption scandals involving her husband and close aides. She and her family have denied allegations against them, and Arroyo said Saturday her administration had inherited a “culture of lawlessness .” She claimed success in reducing violent crimes such as ransom kidnappings while maintaining a cease-fire with Muslim separatists in the southern Philippines. However, yearslong efforts to clinch a peace deal with either Muslim or communist rebels will be left to the new administration to pursue. Aquino has said his Cabinet's first priority will be making an inventory of the problems facing the country, citing Arroyo government's unreliable statistics. Renato Reyes, secretary general of the left-wing alliance Bayan, said Arroyo was leaving behind “the most corrupt government and the most number of human rights abuses.”
