OSAKA -- Philippines president Gloria Arroyo need not call an election to confirm the presidency she claimed just over a month ago as the people and legal institutions recognize her legitimacy, former Philippine president Fidel Ramos said here Thursday.
"The people and the Supreme Court recognized that Ms. Arroyo assumed the presidency in a constitutional manner, and the international community expressed their support within the first 24 hours of her inauguration," Ramos, president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998, told a news conference.
Ramos was in Osaka for the first day of a two-day international forum to discuss cooperation among nongovernmental organizations, local governments and the private sector in tackling problems in the Asia-Pacific region.