Members of these groups, who have been on a 48-hour "countdown"protest near the US embassy since Wednesday evening, set up three clocks showing the mean time in Manila, Washington and Baghdad.

Anti-riot police, armed with baton and shield, blocked a major entry to the road leading to the US embassy premise. Two fire engines were also deployed to disperse the protestors in case the rallists try to breach the police cordon.

Groups took turns to stage their respective versions of demonstration in the scorching sun, urging US troops to immediately cease hostility in Iraq, and asking the Arroyo administration to withdraw its support for the United States.

Randy Evanglista, 24, told Xinhua that he mobilized his schoolmates in the University of the Philippines for the anti-war rally.

"We are against the war for three reasons. First, the war itself is unjust, as the United States has not found any solid proof on Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction.

"Second, the war is devastating to the Philippine economy as most of our overseas workers in the Middle East will either lose their jobs or get hurt in the war. Locally, we rely heavily on oilsupply from the Middle East, and any disruption of oil supply willlead to higher gasoline prices and electricity rates.

"Third, lives will be lost in the war, which is also against our belief," a stirred-up Evanglista added.

Most of the country's oil needs, estimated at 330,000 barrels aday, come from the Middle East.

There are also some 1.4 million to 1.5 million Filipinos working in the Middlest East, part of an estimated 7 million overseas Filipino workers whose remittances of 6 billion to 7 billion US dollars a year keep the country's economy afloat.

An on-looker of the protest, who requested anonymity, told Xinhua that if the United States is single-minded enough to wage awar on Iraq, it should do it alone instead of committing a war crime in the name of a multi-national coalition.

Elvira Acebedo, a souvenir shop owner in downton Manila, also expressed her opposition to the US-led military strikes against Iraq.

"We Filipinos are peace-loving people. We oppose any form of war in any part of the world," she said.

She feared that her business may suffer as the war in Iraq and possible sympathetic attacks by extremist groups in the Philippines would prevent foreign tourists from coming to the country.

"I pray the war will be over soon," she said.

Solomon Ong, a businessman in paper distribution in Manila, echoed Acebedo's view.

"The Philippine economy is now in difficulties, and the war in the Middle East will surely add up to our difficulties because we are heavily dependent on oil supplies from the region and there are so many Filipinos working there," he said.

Earlier in the day, more than 40 members of the House of Representatives signed a resolution strongly opposing the unilateral military action of the United States on Iraq on Thursday.

In the resolution, the lawmakers from both the administration and opposition also called on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to"desist from extending any form of support of such unilateral and illegal act."

Representative Satur Ocampo urged President Arroyo to explain to the public the country's inclusion in a coalition supporting the US-led military strikes against Iraq, and to clearly spell out the "moral and political support" her administration has pledged to the United States.

President Arroyo said earlier that as part of the US-led "coalition of the willing," the Philippines is giving political and moral support for actions which would eventually disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.

She said the government would not deploy combat troops to the Middle East, but would extend peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance in post-war Iraq.

She also said that the government's support for disarming Iraq does not pose a mortal threat to the Filipinos working in the Middle East.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2003)