MANILA, Philippines -- As the political scene starts to heat up ahead of the 2010 general elections, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo once more stressed that she would focus on work, not politics.

"I will not engage in any [political] debate because our focus is [on] our programs that are pro-poor and our economic programs," Arroyo said in an interview aired on state-run Radyo ng Bayan.

Asked about Task Force 2010, a voter education drive spearheaded by the Roman Catholic church and civic groups, Arroyo said in the Cebuano dialect: "We support efforts to move our democracy and anything that contributes to fair and clean elections."

Earlier this week, business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. said the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) party, which he founded, would field either Senator Loren Legarda or Senator Francis Escudero in the 2010 presidential race.

A few months back, Senator Manuel Villar and Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando also declared their intention to run for president in 2010.

Other reported presidential aspirants are Vice President Noli de Castro and Senators Panfilo Lacson and Manuel Roxas II.

Arroyo won a six-year term in May 2004 under a cloud of doubt amid allegations she used the military to defeat popular movie actor Fernando Poe Jr., who died of a stroke in December of the same year.