(China Daily-Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-25 07:03

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Sunday she knows she's not perfect but warned her rivals that an attempt to oust her in a "people's power" revolt would damage her country's image and repel foreign investment.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo prays during a mass inside the presidential palace in Manila February 24, 2008. [Agencies]

Arroyo's comments came as opposition and left-wing groups prepared to commemorate today a 1986 popular uprising that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The groups planned to stage protests in 15 cities to demand Arroyo's resignation following a slew of corruption scandals that have rocked her seven-year rule.

Police, troops and tanks assembled in central Manila to ensure security during the protests, amid fresh rumors of a possible coup. Military and police leaders have reiterated their loyalty to the chain of command and warned their men from backing any anti-government activity.

In 1986, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos massed along a major highway through the heart of Manila to protect mutinous soldiers from a convoy of tanks and troops loyal to Marcos.

Marcos, who ruled with an iron fist for 20 years, was forced to flee into exile in Hawaii, where he died in 1989.

Arroyo was one of the leaders of a 2001 uprising that ousted her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, who was accused of massive corruption and misrule.

In a televized speech Sunday, Arroyo said the world had "embraced" the 1986 people's power uprising as a harbinger of nonviolent political change, and that it had "tolerated" the second revolt in 2001.

But, she warned, a third such revolt would "condemn the Philippines as a country whose political system is hopelessly unstable" and discourage foreign investment just as the government grappled with steep oil price hikes and a global economic slowdown.

Arroyo stressed she would not relinquish power until the end of her term in 2010 and that she would pursue reforms to bolster the economy.

"We all know I am not perfect," Arroyo said in the speech. "But I have worked hard every day to achieve positive and lasting change for the nation."