MANILA, June 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Saturday expressed her insistence to stay in the presidency despite calls from the opposition for her to resign.

Filipino demonstrators, opposing the government of Philippine President Arroyo, push back anti-riot police during a rally in Manila June 11. (Reuters)

    Arroyo said in a speech at a reception for the Diplomatic Corpsthat she was "still in the kitchen" although she felt the "political heat" from the tough decisions she had to make to turn around the economy.

    She dismissed the opposition's efforts to overthrow her presidency as "extreme madness."

    "I am still in the kitchen because that's where I belong, to continue to make tough choices to turn this economy around, and noone can deter me from that mission," she said.

    The president was recently trapped by a series of scandals including her family's involvement in "jueteng" illegal gambling and wiretapping tapes containing the contents which might discloseher cheating in the election last year.

    However, Arroyo said that those calling for her resignation were isolationists and did not realize the need of the country to attract more foreign investments.

    The military command sent one platoon of soldiers to the international airport Saturday evening to beef up the security, although thousands of more policemen and soldiers had been deployed to secure the capital in light of the protesters rally intime of the National Independence Day. Enditem