Manila - Two top Philippine banks have set aside 94.7 million dollars in provisional funds to cover possible losses arising from the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Both the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co (Metrobank) and Banco de Oro have exposure in Lehman Brothers.

The central bank also offered emergency lending to banks that might need funds but stressed that it was not worried because it believed Philippine banks could weather the crisis after implementing reforms after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Central bank Deputy Governor Diwa Gunigundo on Wednesday urged depositors not to panic.

Manila - Four communist rebels were killed in separate clashes with government troops in the southern Philippines, a military report said Wednesday.

Three communist rebels were killed in a running gunbattle with soldiers in Columbio town in Sultan Kudarat province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

Another communist guerrilla was also killed in a clash with government security forces in San Miguel town in Surigao del Sur province, 810 kilometres south of Manila.

Manila  - The Philippines' unemployment rate eased to 7.4 per cent in July from a two-year high three months ago, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said Tuesday.

According to the NSO's quarterly survey, 2.75 million Filipinos were jobless in July 2008, down from 2.82 million in the same month last year when the unemployment rate was 7.8 per cent.

The July jobless rate was down from 8 per cent in April, when 2.91 million Filipinos were out of work.

Manila - Philippine shares plunged more than 4 per cent for the second straight day on Tuesday following a meltdown in Wall Street amid concerns over the US financial system.

The Philippine Stock Exchange's 30-share composite index lost 114.44 points, or 4.51 per cent, to close at 2,421.72 from Monday's finish of 2,536.16.

On Monday, stocks fell by 4.15 per cent.

A total of 1.76 billion shares valued 2.56 billion pesos (54.00 million dollars) were traded on Tuesday.

Manila - Remittances from overseas Filipinos rose 18.17 per cent in the first seven months of the year as more Filipinos found employment abroad, the Philippine central bank said Monday.

The central bank said remittances from January to July reached 9.60 billion dollars, higher than 8.13 billion dollars in the same period last year.

In July alone, remittances from overseas Filipinos rose 24.64 per cent to 1.36 billion dollars from 1.09 billion dollars in the same month last year.

There are estimated to be more than 8 million Filipinos working abroad. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said that from January to July this year, an additional 761,836 Filipinos left for jobs abroad, a jump from 594,445 last year.

Manila - Philippine shares fell sharply by 4.15 per cent on Monday on fresh fears over the continuing financial woes in the United States.

The Philippines Stock Exchange's 30-share composite index plunged 109.96 points to close at 2,536.16 from Friday's finish of 2,646.12.

A total of 2.02 billion shares valued at 1.91 billion pesos (40.65 million dollars) were traded.

Losers swamped gainers 92 to 11, with 33 issues unchanged.