GMA gunning for House seat

(UPDATE) MANILA, Philippines – It’s official: President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for congresswoman of the second district of Pampanga. 

President Arroyo formally declared her bid for a congressional seat in Pampanga’s second district, a report from a government-run radio station said today. She will be the first Philippine President to pursue a lower public office.

"I have been mulling different ways to stay involved. After much soul searching, I have decided I will file my certificate of candidacy for Congress in order to serve the hardworking people of my province," Mrs. Arroyo said in a recorded statement aired over government-run dzRB. 

Mrs. Arroyo added that she is not ready to leave public service. She is barred by the constitution from seeking a second term, and said today she'll step down following national elections in May, ending her administration's nine tumultuous years.

"I realized I am not ready to step down completely from public service," said the 62-year-old US-trained economist and a daughter of a former president. "As you know, people from my province of Pampanga have asked me to stay in public service, so after much soul-searching, I have decided to respond affirmatively to their call."

Atty. Romeo Macalintal, Mrs. Arroyo’s election lawyer, confirmed her decision to gun for a House seat in the May 2010 polls. He held a press briefing at the Malacañang Palace this afternoon to discuss Mrs. Arroyo’s 2010 plans in detail. 

COC filing set tomorrow

Macalintal said Mrs. Arroyo will travel to Pampanga tomorrow to speak to supporters, after which a representative will file her candidacy papers.

After succeeding President Joseph Estrada, who was toppled by massive anti-corruption protests in 2001, Mrs. Arroyo went on to win her own six-year term in 2004 amid allegations of fraud. 

She subsequently survived four impeachment bids initiated by the opposition in Congress, and four power grabs by disenchanted troops who blamed her for corruption and misrule. 

Opinion polls have consistently found her to be the least popular president since late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was ousted in 1986. 

Most recently, she fended off criticism of her political alliance with a powerful southern clan accused in the massacre of 57 people, nearly half of them journalists, in the country's south. 

One critic, Randy David, a sociology professor at the University of the Philippines who briefly thought of running against Mrs. Arroyo, said she might use her congressional seat to work to amend the constitution from the current US-style to a parliamentary system under which she could eventually be installed prime minister. 

Mrs. Arroyo told the radio interview "that situation is so hypothetical, I won't even bother to speculate about it."

The President has been working for several years to make those changes to the constitution, but has routinely been sidetracked by crises that left her struggling for her political survival. 

Estrada was among opposition presidential candidates who filed their nominations Monday.

The presidential race is shaping up as a contest among the son of the late president and democracy icon Corazon Aquino, Benigno "Nonoy" Aquino III; fellow senator Manuel Villar, a wealthy real estate developer; and administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro, a former defense chief.

Comelec: GMA can run 

Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reaffirmed that there is no legal impediment in President Arroyo’s planned congressional bid. 

"Yung pag-file ng Pangulo, walang problema dun, walang legal impediment," Comelec spokesman James Jimenez told reporters.

Jimenez said the law does not prohibit the sitting or incumbent President to gun for a lower position in government office. 

He noted that elective officials are allowed to return to their duties after filing their COCs. 

Mrs. Arroyo's critics have earlier urged her to step down in the event she decides to run for a lower public office.

Some critics said she might try to use the new perch — a seat in the lower house that she is sure to snag — to retain significant power by seeking high posts or even working toward the creation of a prime ministership. – With Dennis Carcamo, AP