Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Thursday she would stay as president until 2010 even though a constitutional reform would be made to establish a parliamentary system to replace the present presidential system.

This was the first time Arroyo had directly declared her intention on whether to stay in power after a constitutional reform, also known as "Cha-cha (Charter change)" here, pushed by her during her annual State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.

In an interview with the local Tagalog language television channel GMA Network, Arroyo said, "I was elected and my term ends in 2010. For now, this is my position."

In her SONA address, Arroyo said she wanted changes in the constitution to be done "the sooner, the better" to address what she called the degenerating political system of the country.

Over the past two months, Arroyo has weathered a rough political crisis caused by mounting calls for her resignation by her opponents accusing her of election fraud and corruption.

Some analysts said Arroyo wanted to use constitutional change as a way to seek a graceful exist from the crisis.

Source: Xinhua