Manila - A former close ally of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday accused the embattled leader of corruption and bribery to keep herself in power.

Former House of Representatives speaker Jose de Venecia alleged "large-scale" and "wide-ranging" corruption under the Arroyo administration as he urged his colleagues to support an impeachment motion against the president.

"Everybody is for sale in this country," he lamented. "The time has come for us to cleanse ourselves. Let us please use our conscience if we want to cleanse this government, this country and this Congress."

Manila - One communist rebel was killed and another injured in a clash with government troops in an eastern Philippine province, an army spokesman said Monday.

Tokyo  - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo departed the western Japanese city of Osaka Saturday for a summit in Lima, leaving her husband at hospital after he fell ill on their flight, media reports said.

The condition of Jose Miguel Arroyo, 62, was not announced.

Philippine Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno had denied reports that Mr Arroyo had suffered a heart attack, saying he had "stomach cramps and back pains."

Manila - The United States on Friday announced it was providing relief assistance worth 2.5 million dollars to thousands of residents displaced by a recent outbreak of hostilities in the southern Philippines.

US ambassador to Manila Kristie Kenney made the announcement during a visit to a camp for internally displaced persons in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council, more than 300,000 people are still displaced by the fighting between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in the southern region of Mindanao.