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President Arroyo is confident she will finish her term by 2010, despite recent controversies which have revived calls for her resignation and the latest report of her security chief of an assassination plot against her.

In an interview with Reuters, the President insisted she is fulfilling her economic promises amid corruption scandals hounding her administration.

"I will finish my term because not because my opponents will allow me. I will finish my term for the simple reason that I mentioned earlier, the average Filipino wants political stability, wants economic progress, and they are getting that economic progress," said Arroyo.

The President also said she took the allegations of bribery in the scrapped ZTE-national broadband network (NBN) deal seriously.

"I take the issue very seriously, and I took steps to cancel the contract which I did, as soon as I could given the sensitivities of our diplomatic relations with our largest export markets," President Arroyo said.

President Arroyo also said that there are "two Philippines" - an economic one and a political one.

"There are like two Philippines. One is the economy, which is performing very well, and the other is the political Philippines which is less than impressive. And that's our political system, it's not the best kind of political system that we have," the President added.

Arroyo’s "worst crisis"

Two opposition lawmakers said Thursday that the scrapped ZTE-NBN deal is the "worst crisis" to hit the Arroyo administration so far.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said more crimes were committed by officials implicated in the overpriced broadband deal ZTE compared to the 2005 "Hello, Garci" wiretapping scandal.

"The administration is facing its most difficult situation and will develop into a graver situation that may bring about the downfall of President Arroyo," said Rodriguez.

He added the alleged overpricing was further complicated by the abduction of star witness Rodolfo Noel "Jun" Lozada, and the ensuing cover-up attempt.

Paranaque Rep. Roilo Golez said that the ZTE issue has all the elements that could bring down the administration.

Golez cited the "Jose de Venecia factor," the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines' call for communal action, the reaction of students, as well as the statement of Vice President Noli de Castro that "those involved should be punished."

"I see a crisis building, a confluence of events that may lead to a critical mass because of so many flashpoints. If there is no damage control, there will be more problems for the administration," said Golez.

Security officials said Thursday they had uncovered a plot by Islamic militants linked to the Al-Qaeda network to assassinate President Arroyo.

Presidential Security Guards chief, Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza, said Mrs. Arroyo had been informed of the threat, which forced her to cancel a scheduled trip Friday to the northern resort city of Baguio.

Security forces in the Philippines were placed on full alert.

The announcement came a day a head of a major rally by political opponents of Mrs. Arroyo to demand her resignation over allegations of corruption linking the First Family.

Prestoza said the intelligence community discovered the assassination plot as early as last week.

Mrs. Arroyo's critics have been holding daily protests around Manila calling on her to resign over fresh claims that her husband and a political ally tried to get millions of dollars in kickbacks from a telecoms deal with a Chinese firm.

The 329-million-dollar deal for a national broadband network with China's state-run ZTE has since been cancelled by Mrs. Arroyo.


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