MANILA, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, under fire again for alleged cheating in the 2004 polls, urged lawmakers on Thursday to concentrate on passing her government's 1.2 trillion pesos ($26 billion) 2008 budget.

Reports have resurfaced in newspapers this week of a taped conversation Arroyo allegedly had with an election official that year, talking about "a million votes". The opposition has mounted two efforts to impeach her on cheating charges but has failed both times.

"The agenda of economic growth and peace must prevail over attempts to pull us back from winning these goals," Arroyo's spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, told reporters.

"Gridlock must not stand in the way of our collective right to a brighter future."

Although the House of Representatives is loaded in favour of Arroyo, the Senate is dominated by the opposition. Arroyo has accused the Senate of blocking her development agenda for partisan reasons.

"I have a country to run," Arroyo said in a statement on Wednesday after the reports on the tapes resurfaced.

"I embrace work and will just let the titans of hate have their monopoly on the politics of destruction," she added.

On Tuesday, Panfilo Lacson, an opposition senator, said a former army sergeant assigned with a military intelligence unit that recorded Arroyo's telephone conversations was now ready to testify on what he knew about the recordings.

Some senators have said they would like to hear the army sergeant's story and re-open a congressional inquiry that could push back debates on Arroyo's legislative agenda, including the 2008 budget and an economic partnership treaty with Japan.

Bunye said the president also wanted lawmakers to pass a bill providing for cheaper medicines and two dozen other measures to push economic reforms, address climate change issues and end political violence.

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