Former Philippine president Corazon Aquino reiterated her demand on Monday for president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign, three days after a similar statement last week.

"I ask the president to spare the country and make the supreme sacrifice of resigning," Aquino said after a mass at the De La Salle University chapel, Manila at noon Monday.

The former president spoke before a gathering of students, teachers and alumni, saying the first option for Arroyo is to resign immediately and pave the way for a smooth transition to the constitutional successor vice president Noli de Castro.

Aquino said the second choice is the long and contentious impeachment process which could divide the nation further.

She said she was invited by Brother Armin Luistro of the La Salle Brothers. Her statement Monday was in reply to the position of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines rejecting the resignation of Arroyo amid the political turmoil.

The CBCP, a politically influential body in the country, also rejected the creation of juntas or revolutionary councils to replace the Arroyo administration.

Source: Xinhua