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Arroyo lifts state of emergency

Philippines: 'People power' to today

• Charges filed in Arroyo plot try

• Arroyo: State of emergency stays

• Arroyo declares emergency

• TIME.com: Inside the plot

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MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has lifted a weeklong state of emergency imposed after security forces thwarted what a top general said was a plot to overthrow her.

"I am happy to report that we have dismantled the sabotage efforts," Arroyo said in a nationally televised address on Friday.

"I strongly believe that law and order has returned."

Arroyo imposed the state of emergency last Friday, effectively banning rallies and protests.

The purported coup plot last week was timed to coincide with demonstrations marking the 20th anniversary of the "people power" revolution that toppled former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

However, that did not stop thousands of people from marching on the central Manila business district to mark the 20th anniversary last weekend of the massive protests that toppled Marcos and brought Corazon Aquino to power.

At the time both candidates had claimed victory in a disputed presidential election.

Aquino entered that race after the 1983 assassination of her husband, Benigno, a popular opposition senator who was gunned down at Manila's airport as he returned from exile in the United States.

Filipinos have called for Arroyo to resign over questions about the legitimacy of her 2004 re-election.

During the vote count, Arroyo was tape-recorded talking to a senior election official, which opposition leaders say is evidence she manipulated the outcome.

The president has denied any wrongdoing, and the Philippines' Congress threw out impeachment charges against her in September after her allies in the House of Representatives used a technicality to block the complaints.

But calls for her to quit have continued.

Analysts have said the 1986 uprising, and another against President Joseph Estrada in 2001, have done little to strengthen the economy, overhaul a political system of personality and patronage, or improve the lives of tens of millions of poor Filipinos.

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