MANILA, Philippines -- Amid mounting calls for President Macapagal-Arroyo to resign, religious leader Bro. Eddie Villanueva has appealed to the country’s five highest officials to sit down and draw up a plan to resolve the worsening political crisis.

Villanueva, who heads the Jesus Is Lord ministry, said the President, Vice President Noli de Castro, Senate President Manuel Villar, House Speaker Prospero Nograles and Chief Justice Reynato Puno should set aside their own interests and come up with a formula that would dispel the people’s doubts against the administration.

“They have to sit down together and plan a no-nonsense formula that will satisfy the minds of the Filipino people without risk of any bloodshed in our beloved country,” said Villanueva, who was a losing presidential candidate in the 2004 election that Ms Arroyo won.

Under the constitutional succession, De Castro, Villar, Nograles and Puno would be in line for the presidency in the event of the President’s death, permanent disability, resignation or removal from office.

While asking the five leaders to come up with a formula to solve the crisis, Villanueva said people should also be given the “chance to choose a leader that did not come to power by election manipulation.”

“This may be an idealistic suggestion but I believe in God and I believe in his power. I also believe in the remaining patriotism of these five officials,” said Villanueva, who called a press conference before addressing a rally of his religious followers at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.

But more than a resignation from Ms Arroyo, what the people need is a “more complete solution” that may mean a snap election being called, Villanueva said.

He said he has been calling for snap elections since the eruption of the “Hello Garci” wiretapping scandal which almost brought down Ms Arroyo in 2005. In the illegally obtained wiretaps, the President was alleged to be conversing with election official Virgilio Garcillano on a plan to rig the vote in 2004.

Unless the legitimacy of the presidency is resolved, there is no avoiding the disunity which serves as “a cancer to the development and prosperity of our people,” Villanueva said.

He said the JIL was joining the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ call for “communal action” to find out the truth behind the NBN-ZTE deal controversy.

“We absolutely agree with the call of [CBCP president Bishop Angel] Lagdameo. This is the time for all the churches to unite for communal action. The Filipino people should heed that call,” Villanueva said.

Villanueva also appealed to Commission on Higher Education Chair Romulo Neri and other government officials who may know about the “litany of corruption” involved in the NBN-ZTE deal, to come out and testify.

“I call on more Jun Lozadas in government to step out now in the open and speak out the truth without fear or favor. You owe it not only to your fellow men but more importantly to God whose aid we implore as a nation,” said Villanueva.