MANILA, Philippines -- The crowd turnout at the anti-government protest in Makati City on Friday, relatively smaller compared to similar mass actions in the past, showed the people were "tired of destabilization."

Some 9,000 protesters, according to police estimates, marched to the Makati financial district to call on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign in the wake of overpricing and bribery allegations surrounding the botched national broadband project.

"We can see that it is waning, compared to the crowds at the last time. The trend we are seeing is correct, that the attendance in protest rallies is progressively waning," Bunye told reporters at the Palace.

"This validates the point of the President this morning that the people are tired of destabilization. Our countrymen want stability, they want us to continue moving the economy forward," he added.

In June 2005, at the height of the wiretapping controversy, about 40,000 protesters, according to police estimates, gathered in Makati to demand Arroyo’s resignation. But even this did not faze the President who went on to weather three impeachment attempts and a coup.