Philippine President to Run for Congress

By CARLOS H. CONDE

MANILA — Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the deeply unpopular Philippine president, announced Monday that she would run for a seat in Congress in elections scheduled for next year, ending months of speculation about her plans when her term ends in June but also raising questions about her long-term intentions.

“I have been mulling different ways to stay involved,” Mrs. Arroyo said in a taped message that a government radio station broadcast on Monday. “After much soul-searching, I have decided I will file my certificate of candidacy for Congress in order to serve the hard-working people of my province.”

Mrs. Arroyo, 62, is the longest serving and most unpopular president the country has had sinceFerdinand Marcos. While she has survived several impeachment efforts, her administration has been embroiled in numerous scandals involving corruption and has been accused of involvement in the extrajudicial killing and abduction of hundreds of activists.

An American-educated economist, Mrs. Arroyo became president in 2001 after a popular revolttoppled President Joseph Estrada. She was his vice president at the time. In 2004, she was returned to office in an election marred by accusations of fraud, which she denied.

Her opponents immediately denounced her latest move and linked it to longstanding speculation that she wanted to remain in public office to maintain her immunity from prosecution.

“Her attempt to get a congressional seat is not born out of a desire to serve but by a desire to get political leverage and avoid accountability for the many crimes committed by her regime,” said Renato Reyes, secretary general of Bayan, a leftist group.

She will run in her home district in Pampanga Province, just north of Manila, her lawyer said in a briefing on Monday. Her son Juan Miguel Arroyo, a congressman who represents the district, has said he will step aside if she chooses to run.

In her radio message, Mrs. Arroyo tried to brush aside the debate over her intentions. Calling the issue “so hypothetical,” she said: “I won’t even bother to speculate about it.”

But she did offer an acknowledgment of her critics, saying, “Congressional immunity is only from libel suits and utterances made in Congress.”