Announcement that she’d no longer run, not the first time for Arroyo

Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has announced that she would not run for any elective post in the mid-term polls next year.

She said she was already retiring and even raised the benefits of bowing out of the government service.

According to Tina Panganiban's report on "24 Oras", this was not the first time that the Pampanga congresswoman said she would no longer seek election.

On December 30, 2002, Arroyo said she would no longer run for president in 2004.

Arroyo, as vice president, took over the presidency in 2001 after Joseph Estrada was ousted over allegations of massive graft.

On October 3, 2003, however, she took back the word she gave on Rizal Day the year before.

"Tatakbo ako sa pagka-pangulo sa eleksyon ng Mayo 2004," Arroyo said at the Expo Filipino on that day.

Arroyo went on to win the presidency in elections that many believe have been marred by massive cheating.

On July 27, 2009 in her last State of the Nation Address, Arroyo said, "I have never expressed the desire to extend myself beyond my term."

Just a few months later on November 30, 2009, Arroyo said, "I am not ready to step down completely from public service. I will file my candidacy for Congress."

In 2010, she won the first of her three terms as Pampanga congresswoman. She became the first former President to run for a lower position.

Arroyo, a former professor of economics, was an assistant secretary and later on undersecretary at the Department of Trade and Industry.

She was senator for one term and served as President for nine years. —NB, GMA News