VOA标准英语10月-New Impeachment Case Filed Against Philippine Pre(在线收听

The opposition filed a new impeachment bid against Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo over alleged corruption, but analysts predict the bid will fail like three previous attempts. As VOA correspondent Nancy-Amelia Collins reports, the unpopular Arroyo government has been hampered not only by graft allegations, but also by a renewed Muslim insurgency in the south that has killed scores and displaced tens of thousands.
 
President Gloria Arroyo at the RFM Food Corp in Manila, October 13, 2008

Opposition groups filed a new impeachment case against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Monday, but analysts predict it will fail as three previous impeachment bids did before.

Key complainant Jose de Venecia and dozens of members of left-wing groups filed their joint complaint at the House of Representatives.

The complaint accuses Mrs. Arroyo of corruption, including charges of misconduct in a 330-million dollar telecommunications deal involving Chinese company ZTE Corp.

Mrs. Arroyo cancelled the contract after the opposition opened public hearings a year ago alleging bribery charges against her husband who they say was promised a huge
commission to back the deal.

The 97-page impeachment complaint also accuses Mrs. Arroyo of human rights abuses contained in previous complaints.

Mrs. Arroyo's government has been rocked by numerous problems since being swept to power after a popular uprising in 2001, including three other failed impeachment bids, at least three coup attempts, and a renewed Muslim insurgency in the country's south.

Sidney Jones, the International Crisis Group's Southeast Asia director, said the breakdown in the peace process in the south between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is a major challenge for the Arroyo government. "This is the first time really that a stage in the peace negotiations has rocked the government in Manila - partly because of the timing, partly because so many people in Manila seem to see the memorandum of agreement with the MILF as being tantamount to dismemberment."
 

Philippines, Mindanao Island

The government suspended long-running peace talks with the MILF last month after several rogue commanders attacked several mainly Christian towns in the southern island of Mindanao.

The fighting was triggered after the Supreme Court in August stopped an agreement hammered out by the government and the MILF that would have given the Muslim separatist group an expanded Muslim autonomous region, following complaints by Christian politicians in the affected areas.

Since then, Mindanao has seen some of the worse fighting in recent years, with scores killed and tens of thousands of people displaced.

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/voastandard/2008/10/64247.html