RC bishops split over support for embattled Arroyo

MANILA, Sunday (AFP)

Influential Roman Catholic bishops are divided on whether to support beleaguered Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, who is clinging to power after losing backing from key sectors, sources said Sunday.

Members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines have been holed up in a meeting over the past four days to hammer out a position on Arroyo, who is accused of stealing the May 2004 presidential vote.

The church plays a key role in the political life of the mainly Roman Catholic nation and in 1986 and 2001 led army-backed popular uprisings that toppled graft-tainted presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada.

The decision of the conference, could make or break Arroyo, who over the weekend was busy trying to consolidate dwindling support for her administration.

The president is under fire over wiretapped conversations, released by the opposition last month, in which a woman sounding like her can be heard appearing to conspire with an elections officials to cheat.

Senior bishops at an emergency meeting had agreed earlier that Arroyo should make the "supreme sacrifice" and quit.

But a final draft of the conference resolution would likely not carry such a demand, with some of the bishops believing that evidence against Arroyo appears to be "tainted and politically motivated," one of them said.

"The final version might call for accountability but may not directly call for her to step down," the bishop told AFP on condition of anonymity.

On Friday eight key members of her cabinet quit and said Arroyo should also step down to avert unrest and economic fallout.

Ex-president Corazon Aquino, members of the business community and supporters who once helped Arroyo to the presidency have also called on the leader to step down.

But she has received backing from another influential ex-president, Fidel Ramos. The chief of the powerful military, General Efren Abu, has vowed to remain neutral.