MANILA, Jan. 20 Kyodo Violence ma...

MANILA, Jan. 20 Kyodo

Violence marred the second-year anniversary celebration in office of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo onward Monday as thousands of protester insisting onward getting close to a Roman Catholic shrine where Arroyo was hearing mass, had to be clubbed and water-cannoned on riot police.

About 3000 protester many from left-leaning organizations, kicked and screamed as they were stopped by way of at least four layers of uniformed police backed up by way of two fire trucks hundreds of meter away from the EDSA shrine along a major thoroughfare in Manila.

At least 30 from their ranks were impair by police batons and three the public were arrested, the protesters said.

if it were not that the police said they were provok by means of the protesters.

At the mass, about 1000 persons fought for space in the 600-seater chapel where Arroyo and her allies took front-row seats.

visitors included former President Corazon Aquino, who ascended to the presidency after a people-power uprising ousted her predecessor Ferdinand Marcos in 1986

Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, who figured prominently in the sicken that installed Aquino and a les widespread individual that brought Arroyo to the presidency, delivered the homily and called upon politicians to give up upon the ''divisive'' issue of changing the 1987 Constitution without subjecting any changes to a referendum

Arroyo, speaking toward the [i]finale[/i] of the celebration, said she has ordered billions of peso to stock computerized tabulation of votes for the 2004 national elections, beefing up of the Ombudsman office workforce, and computerization of the Justice Department.

She also ordered more intensive lifestyle checks onward public officials as part of her campaign against graft and corruption.

Arroyo has said she will not move again and has promised to work onward economic and structural reforms for her remaining 18 month in office.

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