Philippines' Estrada to address nation on crisis

October 30, 2000
Web posted at: 4:36 PM HKT (0836 GMT)

MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) -- Philippine President Joseph Estrada will go on national television on Monday evening to tell the country of his determination to stay in office despite calls for him to resign, his spokesman said.

Estrada, facing threats of impeachment in Congress for allegedly receiving kickbacks from illegal gambling, is expected to go on the air at 9 p.m. (1300 GMT).

"Hopefully, it will be seen as an effort on the part of the president to try to respond positively to what he is seeing," presidential Press Secretary Ricardo Puno told reporters.

Asked if Estrada would respond to growing demands from various quarters for him to step down, Puno said: "I think, in the sense that I do not see any changes in his basic position, that he will not resign, that he will see this through to its logical conclusion, that he will follow what the constitution provides on this particular issue."

"I don't think there will be any changes in terms of his determination not to resign," Puno said.

He said Estrada also wanted "to address the issue of the economic problems we are having right now." He did not elaborate.

Estrada has denied receiving bribes from gambling syndicates and said the accusations were engineered by his opponents who wanted to destabilize his government.

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