HONG KONG – President Macapagal-Arroyo arrived in Hong Kong Sunday to try and drum up foreign investment, as around 1,000 overseas Filipino workers called on her to resign.

The protesters gathered outside the hotel where Ms Arroyo, dogged at home by falling popularity and corruption allegations, was due to give a speech to invited members of the Filipino community in Hong Kong.

"Overseas workers do not welcome Gloria Arroyo in Hong Kong," said Eman Villanueva, secretary general of United Filipinos in Hong Kong, one of the groups organizing Sunday's protest.

"She should go back to the Philippines and face the charges against her and her government," he added. Hong Kong has a large Filipino community, mostly working in domestic service.

"We want to send a message to the business community that if they invest in the Philippines, they are supporting a tyrant," Villanueva said.

The protesters shouted "Oust, oust GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo)," referring to the president's initials and held banners condemning extra-judicial killings and corruption in the country.

Before she left Manila, Ms Arroyo said recent economic growth needed to be reinforced with an "aggressive outreach to investors."

"Our trip to Hong Kong is another action we are taking to continue to bolster our economy through more investments," she said in a departure statement but she did not deliver statement at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

A rostrum was prepared but Arroyo went straight to the waiting plane when she took her commercial flight to Hong Kong.

Ms Arroyo was last to board Philippine Airlines Flight PR 306 that left for Hong Kong at 2:50 p.m. Sunday, carrying 422 passengers, including First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, presidential son Diosdado “Dato” Arroyo, Cabinet members and hundreds of other regular passengers.

Ms Arroyo's visit comes in the heels of the European Union's encouraging assessment of the Philippines' recent economic gains.

Airport management prepared a podium at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Centennial Terminal but Ms Arroyo opted to proceed straight to the departure gallery, where she was accorded sendoff honors by the Philippine Air Force Honor Guards, top military generals and airport officials.

Regular passengers still rushed to board until the last minute, sprinting past waiting presidential security and members of the media unaware that they happened to be booked on a special flight.

“Bakit? Anong meron? (Why? What's up?),” said a female passenger, stunned at the sight of photographers, cameramen and reporters that gathered near jetway 49.

“Sino bang VIP? (Who is the VIP?)” said another as she struggled through the red carpet, her sandals still undone after the tight security screening.

Only when the rest of the passengers were aboard did the President's staff clear the VIP boarding, and Ms Arroyo emerged from the terminal's Presidential Lounge with Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. for the foyer honors.

Ms Arroyo, who will make a keynote speech at a Credit Suisse economic forum on Monday, said her cash-strapped government was "on the verge of a balanced budget" for the first time in years.

Major donors, such as the World Bank, last week praised the Philippines' 7.3 percent economic growth last year -- the highest in 30 years, but warned that it needed to woo more investment and upgrade its infrastructure.

Arroyo has survived three coup attempts and three impeachment bids in the country's congress over allegations of corruption.

Massive street protests have called for her resignation over graft charges involving her husband and a close political ally.

With a report from Tarra Quismundo, Philippine Daily Inquirer