Philippine president rejects call for snap elections

MANILA, Philippines - As the corruption allegations escalated Friday, a prominent spokesman from Joseph Estrada's party called Friday for an emergency election to replace the embattled Philippine president.

Juan Ponce Enrile, who helped lead the ''people power'' revolt that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, filed a resolution urging Congress to call for a new election.

Estrada's top aide, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, rejected the proposal.

''The resolution would just add more problems and confusion to the already suffering nation,'' he said.

The scandal erupted last week when Gov. Luis Singson testified that he arranged more than $11.4 million in payoffs to Estrada from operators of an illegal numbers game called jueteng and from tobacco taxes.

Estrada has denied the allegations.

Earlier Friday, former national police chief Roberto Lastimoso told a Senate committee that Estrada summoned him soon after his term began. Estrada told him to coordinate with Singson, who was ''overseeing jueteng operations,'' he said.

Lastimoso, who was national police chief from July 1998 to April 1999, said he obeyed.

The allegations - and falling confidence in Estrada's 2-year-old administration - have plunged the country into its worst political crisis in years and ravaged its financial markets.

The World Bank warned Friday that the political crisis must be settled soon to prevent a further erosion of investor confidence.

Opposition groups filed an impeachment case against the president Wednesday, but the administration-controlled Congress is widely expected to reject the charges.

On Friday, thousands of farmers marched toward the presidential palace, demanding Estrada's resignation.

Enrile, a member of Estrada's LAMP party, pushed for a new election, saying that the crisis would create ''very unpleasant and unimaginable pain and problems for the country.''

Former presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos as well as prominent religious leaders also have urged Estrada to step aside.

However, Estrada is committed to stay in office ''for the period for which he was election, which means up to 2004,'' said his spokesoman, Ricardo Puno.