The Philippines' former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. said on Thursday that the political opposition could use "civil disobedience" to boycott the government if the new impeachment complaints filed against President Gloria Macapgal-Arroyo are once again junked.

Guingona made his statement at a press briefing at the Senate, where he said the opposition have opted to push for the impeachment because "this is the peaceful and legal method to oust the president who should have stepped down a long time ago."

He said that if the impeachment proceedings at the House of Representatives fail again, the opposition would have other options.

"We will never lack of options," he said. "We can always do civil disobedience, we can always do a boycott."

Guingona said the public could stop paying taxes as a form of " civil disobedience" while teachers and students could boycott their classes for one week for a start.

He also said overseas Filipino workers could stop remitting their dollar earnings to their families in the country.

Guingona led 16 others on Tuesday in filing another impeachment complaint against President Arroyo before the House. Accusing the President of graft and anti-humanity, the complaint is basically the same as the one filed on Monday by more than 200 individuals who compose civil groups.

On Wednesday and Thursday, two more similar complaints were also filed by students and other groups.

Guingona was the vice president of the Philippines in 2001 to 2004. He was also concurrently served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Besides his active role in ousting former President Joseph Estrada in 2001, Guingona also took major part in the anti- Arroyo political rallies and activities in 2005.

Source: Xinhua