Philippine President Gloria Arroyo called Friday for Myanmar to release all its political prisoners, including democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and hold a dialogue for national reconciliation.

Expressing concern about the growing unrest in Myanmar, Arroyo urged Yangon “to act with the utmost restraint.”

In a statement she called on Myanmar to hold national reconciliation talks which would require the “release of all those who have been detained… including Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi,” the statement said.

Arroyo, who is in New York for a meeting of the UN General Assembly, also called on Myanmar to invite the UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari to visit the country “as soon as possible.”

Myanmar and the Philippines are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has previously taken a soft policy on Myanmar.

The other ASEAN members are Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

About 30 labour activists staged a peaceful rally outside the Myanmar embassy in the Philippine capital on Friday with five of the activists shaving their heads in a sign of solidarity with the protesting monks.

“Free Burma now,” they chanted as they waved a huge banner of Myanmar leader General Tan Shwe with the words “Wanted for crimes against the people of Burma.”

Joshua Mata, secretary-general of the Alliance of Progressive Labor, said the Philippines had a responsibility to lead ASEAN in expelling Myanmar.

This was because it was the Philippines that argued that inducting Myanmar into ASEAN would lead to more democracy. “Recent events have shown the constructive engagement policy of ASEAN doesn’t work,” he said.