Philippine President’s Chief Critic Rejects His Olive Branch

Philippine President Joseph Estrada, struggling to hold on to power, on Monday rejected demands that he resign but offered his chief critic, Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the top economic job, which she turned down.

Estrada, facing threats of impeachment for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes from illegal gambling, extended an olive branch to his political foes and said he would seek their counsel to help the country out of its economic mess.

But he said he will not step down. “I will answer all the charges point by point at the proper time,” he said. “Let the impeachment process take its due course.”

He said he will relinquish the chairmanship of the Economic Coordinating Council, a high-powered Cabinet committee that oversees all economic policy, if Arroyo agreed to take it over.

“He has repeatedly made promises which have not been fulfilled,” Arroyo told television.