UP students call for Arroyo ouster during graduation rites

MANILA, Philippines - Tension gripped the commencement exercises of the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City on Friday after graduating student activists suddenly staged a protest rally in the middle of the program. Right after being handed their school diploma, a number of student activists stormed the convention hall’s stage, carrying banners seeking President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s resignation. GMA’s Flash Report said the students held the 'brief' protest action in the middle of the ceremony while Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who was a guest at the rites, was still on stage. Aside from asking for the President’s ouster, the group of college graduates also called for the protection of the rights of students amid their chanting of protest anthems. Though caught by surprise, fellow graduating students joined in, and chanted along with the student activists, the report added. Cops and security men stationed inside the hall tried stopping the protesters by snatching the banners to no avail Puno, for his part, was quoted as saying he did not mind the students’ sudden protest, saying he understood the young students’ sentiments because they were merely practicing their rights to freedom of speech. The television report said that after the ‘brief’ rally, the program proceeded peacefully. Calls for President Arroyo's resignation have been renewed after her husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, was linked to the botched national broadband deal with China's ZTE Corp. Mr Arroyo had denied any involvement in the allegedly anomalous deal. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV