Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye made the dismissal after Senate President Franklin Drilon and four other senators, buoyed by the resignation of Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, re-launched the "Gloria Resign" movement.

"I think, as in previous efforts, this new attempt to make the President resign will go nowhere because in my opinion Filipinos are tired of destabilization," Bunye said in the vernacular during a radio interview yesterday morning.

He said the efforts to force Mrs. Arroyo to follow Thaksin’s example are doomed to fail because the Filipino people would rather concentrate on their work and make use of their time productively.

"Wala naman pong nangyari at hindi naman kinagat ng tao ang kanilang panawagan," he said, stressing that the President believes she received a strong electoral mandate during the last elections in May 2004.

"Sa aking pananaw ang mamamayang Pilipino ay sawa na sa destabilization at mas nanaisin nila na magtrabaho na lang at maging produktibo ang paggamit nila ng kanilang panahon," he said.

Instead of minding persistent clamors for her resignation or ouster for alleged electoral fraud and corruption, the President would rather focus on pushing for the country’s economic takeoff, Bunye said.

"Ang ating Pangulo ay magtatrabaho na lang po because she is focused on the economy and we can see na kahit papano eh gumaganda ang ekonomiya," he said.

The presidential spokesman also said that the President’s political opponents should not use the Thailand’s experience because the Philippines has a presidential system of government while Thailand has a parliamentary system.

"Critics show their deep ignorance of how our current system of government works when they compare it to the parliamentary system in Thailand. It’s a sad reflection on their civic knowledge that they have no clue how a parliamentary system works," he said.

Mrs. Arroyo’s opponents and critics have urged her emulate Thaksin to put an end to the protracted political crisis precipitated by unresolved accusations of electoral cheating and allegations of her benefiting from jueteng operations in the country.

First Gentleman tells 5 senators: Work or quit

"It’s you who must resign, not the President. Magtrabaho naman kayo.’’

First Gentleman Mike Arroyo addressed this yesterday to the five senators who launched a new Gloria Resign Movement in mockery of the birthday celebration of President Arroyo Wednesday.

Arroyo said Senators Jamby Madrigal, Panfilo Lacson, Aquino Pimentel Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada and Senate President Franklin Drilon are wasting taxpayers’ money with their politicking and black propaganda in their desperate attempt to oust the President.

Before they grandstand in media and continue squandering taxpayers’ money, as well as the time and resources of the Senate, leaders of the Gloria Resign Movement leaders should show first what they have done for the people, a spokesman for Arroyo said.

House leaders question motive of resign movement

Two leaders of the House of Representatives yesterday questioned the motives of five senators who launched the Gloria Resign Movement last Wednesday, which coincided with the celebration of President Arroyo’s 59th birth anniversary.

House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles and Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Gerry Salapuddin said the senators are pushing for the President’s resignation to advance the ambition of Senate President Franklin Drilon to lead the country.

Drilon, along with Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Senators Panfilo Lacson, Jinggoy Estrada and Jamby Madrigal, have launched a nationwide campaign to force the President out.

In a joint statement, Nograles and Salapuddin said the launching of the resign movement was a desperate move and was not surprising.

They noted that besides the President, the senators also wanted Vice President Noli de Castro to resign from his post.

"They have called for the President’s resignation a long time already but the President and the Vice President won’t resign just to accommodate Senator Drilon’s ambition to become president," Nograles said.

Nograles said none of them can win in a one-on-one fight against Mrs. Arroyo for president.

"They can offer no viable alternative to replace GMA. They want a junta of the left, the center and the right. Forget it. As is where is na lang," Nograles said.

For his part, Salapuddin said the resign movement was doomed to fail and the senators behind it were "prophets of doom."

"Resignation is a dead issue. The President is determined to stay and finish her term. There is no reason for her to resign when her vision for the country is finally starting to materialize," Salapuddin said. (Edmer F. Panesa)