MANILA - PRESIDENT Gloria Arroyo in a surprise move on Wednesday removed an executive order that top aides had used to avoid going before an inquiry into a corruption scandal that has tainted her husband.

Mrs Arroyo, who has faced mounting calls to step down over the scandal, said she was revoking the order and she encouraged her top advisers to testify before the public inquiry being conducted by the Senate.

'Effective immediately, I am revoking (Executive Order) 464. Executive officials may no longer invoke E.O. 464 to excuse non-attendance from legislative inquiries,' Mrs Arroyo said in a statement.

The Senate is investigating allegations that Mrs Arroyo's husband, Mr Jose Miguel Arroyo, and a close political ally, Mr Benjamin Abalos, sought millions in dollars in kickbacks from China's ZTE Corp. to help it win a national Internet broadband deal.

Mrs Arroyo cancelled the 329 million-dollar contract (S$457 million) with ZTE after the scandal broke.

Her turnaround on the executive order - which she issued last year to stop officials from testifying in what she had said were useless legislative inquiries - paves the way for an aide with key knowledge of the ZTE deal, Romulo Neri, to take the stand.

Mr Neri, who once headed the economic planning ministry, could not be reached for comment.

Mr Rodolfo Lozada, an official and former consultant to Mr Neri, has alleged at the inquiry that Arroyo's husband and Abalos had demanded 130 million dollars in kickbacks from the deal.

The controversy has hurt Mrs Arroyo's standing, with opposition groups organising growing street protests calling for her to quit.

While the influential Roman Catholic bishops have stopped short from joining those calls, two former presidents and major business groups have backed the protests.

In a speech before government employees on Tuesday, President Arroyo criticised the opposition for using the ZTE issue to advance their political ambitions.