MANILA, Philippines -- President Macapagal-Arroyo is not losing sleep over loud calls for her resignation as a result of the purported bribery and overprice scandal attending the scrapped National Broadband Network project.

In an interview Saturday over dzRH, the President said she had been sleeping “seven hours a night,” and that this was part of her “energy management.”

“Because they say, if you want your left and right sides of the brain to work efficiently, it should be customary for you to have seven to eight hours of sleep at night,” she added in a mixture of English and Filipino.

When asked by radio commentator Joe Taruc about the “Gloria resign” call, the President said she would rather focus on the economy than think about it.

She said the economy would not have drastically improved if she had paid attention to “political disturbances.”

“That’s why I am focused like a laser beam on the economy. So you can see the fruits of that focus, and that’s my attitude until now,” she said.

Ms Arroyo said that despite the current political tumult, she remained on track to fulfill her duties as President.

“Yes, that’s part of my discipline,” she said, recalling the advice of her late father, President Diosdado Macapagal to “do what is right; do your best and let God take care of the rest.”

She said her father even advised her that the presidency was “not a position to be enjoyed.

“It’s a position where you have to work hard for the good of the people, and if necessary, it’s a position where you should be willing to suffer,” she said, quoting the late President.

Ms Arroyo said she had been ignoring the name-calling and remarks that, she said, had been “twisted” by the media: “Deadma lang ako doon.”

But she lamented that a former member of the Cabinet—former Presidential Management Staff chief and now Albay Gov. Joey Salceda—had been dragged into the mess.

At an economic forum on Wednesday at the Ateneo de Manila University in Makati City, Salceda was quoted as saying that “she (Ms Arroyo) may be a bitch, but she’s the luckiest bitch around.”

He said the numbers were proving that the economy had grown, but he later apologized for the remark, saying it was made “tongue in cheek.”

Ms Arroyo said the entire quote was actually, “If she’s a bitch, she’s one lucky bitch because of the improving economy.”

“That’s the context,” she said. “On the day he was quoted, I was out in the field, so I did not understand at first why he sent me through text messages his apologies, where he said his remarks were made in the context of affection. I [didn’t] know what he was apologizing for.”

The President said she had forgiven Salceda for his well-publicized quip.

“So talagang iyong mga sinasabi nilang sinabi nito, ganyan, sinabi niya, ganyan, panay hakahaka, mga bukambibig. Ito ay galing sa burak ng tsismis, sabi-sabi at batikos (The reports that someone said this, someone said that—all that is mere conjecture. They all come from the mire of gossip, hearsay and unfounded criticisms),” she said.

She also said it saddened her that her political enemies had stooped to such “desperadong paninira (desperate back-biting).”

She insisted that the economy was stable, with very high investors’ confidence, and that her seven-year administration had been meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

Ms Arroyo said the current crisis was different from past challenges to her hold on power.

She seconded Taruc’s observation that a number of crises had occurred during her term, but said her predecessors had been similarly beset:

“We had many upheavals, not only in my time, but my predecessors as well. And time and again, the people have shown that they want political stability and economic progress.”

Ms Arroyo said any attempt to unseat her would fail because of the improving economy:

“The times when [extra-constitutional change] succeeded were when the economy was in a bad fix, the peso was weak, inflation was high, unemployment was rampant, and growth rate was so low, even negative. But now, the situation is opposite.”

She said the people needed a President focused on the economy. “And I guess that’s the reason why I am ... the President, so that there will be improvements in the economy and for poverty to be reduced drastically,” she added.