Manila security forces support Arroyo amid rallies

MANILA (Reuters) - Security was tight in the Philippine capital on Monday ahead of rallies calling on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign over a corruption scandal.

Allegations of $130 million worth of kickbacks in a $329 million government telecoms deal with China's ZTE Corp. has revived calls for Arroyo to go with deposed president Joseph Estrada adding his voice on Monday.

"I hope she will be enlightened that it is time for her to go to avoid bloodshed and violence. When the people are already beyond the limit of their patience you should respect them as a leader," Estrada said in an interview with Al Jazeera television.

Estrada was ousted in a military-backed revolt over corruption in 2001 that propelled Arroyo, his then vice-president, to power. He was convicted of plunder last year but Arroyo pardoned him a month later.

Organisers expect around 3,000 people to march later on Monday in anti-government rallies timed to the anniversary of the overthrow of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a "people power" revolt in 1986.

Riot police took up positions close to the presidential palace, which was blocked off with steel railings topped with barbed wire. Thousands of troops were on standby.

Political analysts say Arroyo's position is secure because the powerful Catholic Church has not come out directly against her and she enjoys the support of the military and the lower house of Congress.

Earlier this month, around 10,000 people demonstrated against Arroyo in Manila's financial district, the biggest crowd since tens of thousands rallied in 2005 at the height of a scandal over alleged vote fraud.

"This will snowball. There is no way for her to stay," said Estrada, who is still popular among poor voters and a figurehead for the opposition.

But middle class Filipinos remain reluctant to take to the streets due to cynicism about what a third "people power" revolt would achieve and anti-government rallies have not attracted the hundreds of thousands of people seen in 1986 and 2001.

(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)