'I am more macho than most men'

She was named after Sophia Loren, has been a model, a cover girl, a television broadcaster and is The Philippines’ most popular senator. Loren Legarda is also a keen environmentalist and says she wants to be the country’s first "green" president.

"It’s about time we had a green president," said 49-year-old Legarda. "It’s a gut issue, because changes in weather and climate affect our harvest, affect food for everyday life, affect our budget. Instead of being used for food and clothing, schools and books, our budget goes to rehabilitation of roads and bridges because we are not prepared for disasters."

However, Legarda says she is not yet formally declaring her candidacy for the 2010 presidential elections, since the timing is "not appropriate." But she leaves little doubt of her ambition, said a report published on the Philippines portal myph.com

"I am ready to serve our country as president," she said. "I am ready, willing and able, but when we are faced with joblessness and worsening poverty, it may not be the appropriate time to announce political plans.

"I know exactly what ails our country and how to cure it and I would be most effective if I was the captain of the ship of state."

Although elections are still 16 months away, Manila’s political class is readying for the polls. At least three senators have said they are interested and a clutch of other leading political figures are considering their chances.

Legarda, whose intensity sits at odds with her youthful, model-like looks, has twice been elected to the senate, both times securing the most number of votes in nationwide elections. She ran for and lost the vice-presidency in 2004, and still says she was cheated out of victory.

Legarda ranks high, but is not at the top of opinion polls surveying probable presidential candidates. At the top is Vice-President Manuel "Noli" de Castro, also a former television broadcaster from the same channel she worked for.

She says her clean image will be her main appeal to voters. "The most important virtue of the next leader of the country should be a leader who is not corrupt. Who among those desiring to be president can say he has not engaged in corrupt practices?"

That could resonate with a public fed up with a series of corruption scandals dogging the administration of President Gloria Arroyo.

Legarda says Arroyo’s administration has failed in governance, misallocated resources, become embroiled in corruption allegations and been unable to alleviate poverty. "The government is out of touch with reality," she said.

Legarda, a single mother of two teenage boys, says she is used to coping with the hurly-burly of Philippine politics. "I am more macho than most men," she says, unsmilingly.