MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is exhorting Filipinos to live out Jesus Christ's life and teachings by loving one another and risking everything for the truth.

In an Easter message from Pattaya, Thailand, where she was to attend the 14th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Arroyo said that by his resurrection 2,000 years ago Christ "proved the truth of his love for us.''

"In our lives as Christians, we too must prove our love for the truth in His life and His teachings. We must love each other and risk our all for the truth, because God commands us so; and Christ did no less for us and expected no less from us,'' she said.

She added: "We, who were consigned only to death, have now been reborn in the promise of heavenly life. We, who knew only darkness, are now asked to become children of the light because, as St. Paul reminds us, `the fruit of the light is in all goodness and justice and truth'.''

The President, who flew to Pattaya with a delegation of Cabinet officials and lawmakers last Friday, is expected to hear Easter Mass at the Royal Executive Lounge on Sunday afternoon.

The Mass will be celebrated by Fr. John Tamayo, a Salesian missionary from Bulacan who has been living in Thailand since 1975.

According to Malacañang, this was the first time in her eight-year presidency that Arroyo spent the last days of Holy Week on a foreign trip. She left Manila last Friday still grieving over the death of her aides in a helicopter crash last Tuesday in the mountains of Ifugao.

Arroyo and her party will fly to Dubai on Sunday for a two-day visit aimed at ensuring job security of the countless expatriate Filipino workers there. They are expected to fly back to Manila on Tuesday.