GMA scolds senior adviser

President Arroyo said yesterday she had reprimanded a senior adviser for announcing she would seek a second term in 2004.

Press reports quoted Presidential Adviser on Special Concerns Norberto Gonzales as saying Mrs. Arroyo was preparing for the presidential race and that her strategists were seeking to "consolidate support" behind her.

"I called him (Gonzales) on the telephone this morning. When I read that (news item), I got angry with him, I told him he had no right to announce my political plans," Mrs. Arroyo said in a weekly radio broadcast.

She said she was too busy running the country and trying to shore up support for her programs to plan for an election.– Marichu Villanueva