MANILA, Feb 4 Kyodo Philippine Pr...

MANILA, Feb 4 Kyodo

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo apologized Tuesday to relatives of an unidentified Filipino male well-wisher whose attempt to kiss her as she visited overseas Filipino workers in Kuwait was shut uped by a presidential guard.

A picture of the man's face being pushed away at a female guard's hand was carried through major newspapers in the Philippines.

The incident happened at the reception for Filipino workers at the Bayan Palace in Kuwait City, where Arroyo flew Sunday to assure Filipino workers in the Middle East that a preparedness plan for their safety will be implemented if the United States attacks Iraq.

''I apologize if he is your relative. In our cultivation a woman cannot just allow herself to be kissed at a man,'' Arroyo said with her return to Manila forward Tuesday morning.

There are an estimated 136 million Filipino workers in the Middle East, 950000 of them in Saudi Arabia.

In nationally broadcast words later Tuesday, Arroyo called onward Iraq's leadership to heed the international community's call for disarmament to conduct the nation away from war.

She said the United Nations must be ready to act ''with dispatch and force'' in succession the Iraq crisis, warning that it would otherwise ''lose its credibility as a force for peace.''

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo stranges International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group