MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES - MORE than 50 former top Philippine government officials, including a one-time head of the central bank, urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's Cabinet to resign on Sunday over a multi-million dollar corruption scandal.

'We call on all those who can no longer endure this wrongful governance with its structures of evil and unmoderated greed: it is time to cut clean, it is time to go,' read the statement, signed by the ex-officials, including five former finance chiefs and a former central bank governor.

A Senate probe into allegations of US$130 million (S$184 million) worth of kickbacks in a state telecoms deal with China's ZTE Corp has revived calls for the resignation of Mrs Arroyo and opposition groups are planning anti-government rallies next week and on Feb 25, the anniversary of the overthrow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Without naming embattled President Gloria Arroyo, Archbishop Cruz urged the government to take note of public anger over the alleged corruption.

'The court of public opinion has already formed a judgment,' he was quoted on the GMA7 television website as saying.

'The general public appreciates credible individuals and simply uses common sense in firmly deciding who are truthful and who are liars, who are upright and who are corrupt,' Archbishop Cruz said, adding the 'national leadership was already beyond redemption in its moral bankruptcy'.

Although the archbishop does not speak for the powerful Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines, he commands widespread support, especially among anti-Arroyo groups.

'Long and deeply buried in a huge pile of rotten and rotting garbage, the ruling administration has become one big living infection already immune to remedial sanitation,' he told GMA7.

On Sunday, former president and democracy icon Corazon Aquino joined around 2,500 people in a Mass in Manila to honour Mr Rodolfo Lozada, a former government official whose testimony in the Senate inquiry revived the protests.

'I want all of us Filipinos to be united again. If we can get together we will also see a bright future for our country,' Mrs Aquino told the cheering congregation, who finished the Mass with a protest song and clenched fists.

Mrs Aquino was elected president in 1986 after Marcos was removed from power in a people power revolt.

A spokesman for the presidential palace cautioned against political manoeuvring.

'Disunity and discord will only bring our country down from the gains we have achieved,' said Ms Lorelei Fajardo.

A presidential election is not due until 2010 when Mrs Arroyo's final term ends.

Truth
Mrs Arroyo has survived three impeachment bids and at least three coup plots since coming to power in 2001 and political analysts have said she will likely see out the remainder of her term because she has the support of the military and the lower house of Congress.

But allegations of multi-million dollars worth of kickbacks have outraged many middle-class Filipinos, who were out in force at Sunday's mass after largely avoiding previous protest rallies.

'We are here not only to support Lozada, because we believe there is corruption we have to do something about it and let the truth come out,' said Mr Antonio Luistro, a father of five.

On Friday, around 10,000 people gathered in Manila's financial district calling for the resignation of Mrs Arroyo, the biggest crowd since tens of thousands demonstrated against her in 2005 amid allegations she cheated in the 2004 election.

Oppositions groups are hoping the protests will gather steam.

'We are seeing a lot of the middle class, businessmen and professionals,' Mr Ronald Llamas, the head of Akbayan, a civil society group, said of the crowd at the Mass.

'In the past we had a hard time convincing them to join us. Now they are voluntarily joining in.'

Senator Manuel Roxas, seen as a leading contender in presidential elections in 2010, Jose de Venecia, the former Speaker of the lower house, and an array of former cabinet members attended the Mass, which was held in the gymnasium of a school.

Mr Lozada has sought refuge in the school since deciding to testify at the Senate inquiry. -- REUTERS