News update Aquino to take power pledging change in Philippines

MANILA, June 30, 2010 (AFP) – Benigno Aquino will take power as Philippine president on Wednesday promising a new era of clean government for the corruption-wracked Southeast Asian nation.

A public holiday has been declared for the inauguration, which will see the 50-year-old bachelor take his oath at a seaside park in Manila at noon (0400 GMT) before tens of thousands of Filipinos.

Aquino admitted to feeling some anxiety on Tuesday as he named his cabinet and put the finishing touches to his first speech as president, in which he will outline how he intends to get the job done over his six-year term.

"It will be what sets the goalposts," he said of the speech, which will air live on national television along with the oathtaking.

"I want it to be understood by the vast majority of our people."

Aquino rode to the country's biggest election victory on May 10 on a promise to end corruption and fight poverty that he said thrived during the nearly 10-year reign of outgoing president Gloria Arroyo.

Another crucial factor was his status as the son of the Philippines' democracy heroes, Benigno and Corazon Aquino.

His father and namesake was shot dead at Manila airport in 1983 as he returned from US exile to lead the democracy movement against dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The incoming president's mother took over and led the "people power" revolution that overthrew Marcos in 1986, and she then earned a reputation as an incorruptible leader during six years as president.

Ahead of his inauguration, Aquino has been careful to play down expectations, insisting that he is not Superman and that he is hoping to merely lay a solid foundation for his successor in 2016.

However he has also announced some headline-grabbing initiatives, including on Tuesday naming a retired Supreme Court chief justice to lead a Truth Commission that will probe and possibly prosecute Arroyo for alleged graft.

He also pledged to scrutinize every project listed in the national budget to make sure taxpayers money is not being lost to corruption, adding he suspected Arroyo had painted a falsely optimistic picture of the economy.

"The first order of business will be for everybody (in the cabinet) to review their particular areas of concern," Aquino said Tuesday.

"We will have to study the lay of the land, study what the conditions are bereft of political spin."

Aquino also said he wanted peace talks to end decades-long communist and Muslim separatist insurgencies.

Another priority was to improve a judicial system where just 18 percent of criminal cases lead to convictions and a court verdict takes six years.

"Justice is really an aspiration rather than a reality," he said.

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk will be among the foreign dignitaries to attend the inauguration.

Japan's state secretary for foreign affairs Osamu Fujimura and the deputy head of China's parliament, Yan Junqi, will also attend.

Roads around the Rizal Park venue will be closed to traffic as early as 7:00am as police mount an operation to secure the president and guests. Manila-based military units went on full alert from Tuesday.

Aquino has pledged to join a street party set to be thrown by his campaign supporters late Wednesday.

Weather forecasters have warned of a 50 percent chance the street-side activities would be doused, and organisers have urged the public to bring yellow umbrellas, Aquino's signature campaign colours.