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Philippine opposition politicians tried on Wednesday to revive their fading attempt to impeach President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as her allies in a Congress committee prepared to reject their strongest complaints.

The opposition, which walked out of the impeachment hearing on Tuesday complaining the process was being railroaded, can still impeach Arroyo over allegations of electoral fraud and graft if they muster one third of lower house votes.

They remain short of the required 79 votes, but one opposition leader said last-minute support for the impeachment from a key lawmaker had boosted their chances of overturning the committee's final report.

Cynthia Villar, joint head of the 18-strong Nacionalista Party, endorsed the complaint on Tuesday, said opposition lawmaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

"We are almost there," Cayetano told reporters.

"We may even exceed the magic number of 79 required."

Opposition lawmakers met in Congress on Wednesday morning to discuss their plans ahead of the resumption of the impeachment hearing at which Arroyo's allies are expected to endorse the weakest of three impeachment complaints against her.

The opposition has said it will not return to the committee, which is dominated by allies of the president and is expected to quickly reject the weakest complaint as inadequate.

Arroyo's allies can block fresh opposition attempts to impeach her because only one impeachment complaint can be taken up against the same official in a single year.

"If they (the opposition) will not attend, we still have a constitutional duty to proceed," Marcelino Libanan, an Arroyo ally, said in a television interview, adding they can not force the opposition if they decide to stay out of debates.

TANTRUMS

The shortcomings of the Philippines' rambunctious democracy were on full display on Tuesday as tempers flared in Congress.

Administration lawmakers resorted to switching off the microphones of their opponents to shut them up and most of the opposition lawmakers later stormed out of the hall in a paper-tossing tantrum.

"Whatever the outcome of the current effort to unseat President Arroyo, the process must be credible," the Philippine Star said in an editorial.

"So far both sides have been a disappointment."

Arroyo's plans to reform the debt-burdened economy have been shunted aside by the political crisis, which began more than two months ago when the opposition produced recordings it said were of her talking to an polling official after last year's election.

The daughter of a former president, who has denied any wrongdoing, appeared to be losing her presidency in early July after desertions by key allies but has since marshalled her formidable political machinery to fight back successfully.

"I think the likelihood is that she will weather the storm on this," said Mike Moran, regional economist at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong.

"It's going to be quite difficult and a surprise if the opposition were able to actually take this to the next stage."

But Moran said the political uncertainty was not helpful at a time when global economic concerns were mounting and neighbouring Indonesia was facing an economic crisis.

The peso fell as low as 56.30 to the dollar on Wednesday, close to its all-time low of 56.45, hurt by nervousness over Indonesia and the surging world price of oil.

"There's enough uncertainty in the global context that you don't want to be adding to them with the domestic backdrop as well," Moran said. "But in some ways this is familiar territory for investors in the Philippines."

The case against her gained strength after a tape of her conversation with an election
Will embattled President Arroyo complete her term -- due to end in 2010?
official emerged. In the call -- made as ballots were being counted -- President Arroyo talked about how to secure a margin of one million votes. In fact, she won the 2004 race by about a million votes. The president has admitted making the call and has apologized for a 'lapse in judgment,' but she denies any wrongdoing.



Last month, observers say Mrs. Arroyo's presidency nearly collapsed when most of her economic team resigned and called on her to do the same. But she rejected the demand, insisting that the country is on the right track and that she is the only one qualified to lead the Philippines.



Peace Process on Hold



Eugene Martin is Director of the Philippine Facilitation Project at the U.S. Institute of Peace here in Washington, which plays an active role in negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or MILF, a Muslim insurgency that operates on the mostly poor southern island of Mindanao.



For nearly 30 years, the MILF has fought for a separate Muslim homeland in the mainly Catholic Philippines. Mr. Martin warns that President Arroyo's political woes could hurt the peace process. "The concern is that if there are long delays, some of the more impatient people on the Muslim or government side may feel they need to take action outside of the peace process. I think that is dangerous. I think it is better to have momentum continue."



Both sides declared a breakthrough in April after reaching consensus on critical issues. But the momentum, at least for the near-term, has stalled. Malaysia, the third-party broker of the peace process, has postponed talks indefinitely.

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