COTABATO CITY, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will run for Congress in 2010 to represent her home province of Pampanga, one of her Cabinet secretaries said here Friday.

“Definitely, she is running for Congress and would represent the people of Pampanga,” Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman told reporters on the sidelines of the Independence Day celebrations in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), where he was guest speaker.

Pangandaman said Arroyo had always told those close to her about her plans to run represent Pampanga in the House of Representatives, including at the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) meeting last Thursday.

“This should allay the fears of the opposition about the no-election scenario,” Pangandaman said.

Pangandaman said the President had nothing to do with the plan of her allies in the House to convene a constituent assembly to amend the Constitution.

He said the President herself was not in favor of Charter change under her administration.

“She said it could come later. Let the people decide after the elections,” Pangandaman said.

Pangandaman said recent surveys which showed her approval ratings on the decline did not dampen the President’s resolve to run for Congress.

“The President gives little attention to surveys as she continues to urge her official family to hasten the completion of Malacañang's priority projects on infrastructure, education, health, agriculture and other social services,” he said.

In Koronadal City, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in the South Cotabato-Sarangani-Sultan Kudarat-General Santos (Socsksargen) area denounced police’s violent dispersal of a protest rally Friday morning.

About 100 militants under Bayan-Socsksargen protested the planned convening of a constituent assembly.

"The big irony is they did it during our Independence Day celebration," the group's spokesman, Edward Flores, said of the dispersal.

The President was in Koronadal City during the rally.