Manila - Remittances from overseas Filipinos reached nearly 1.5 billion dollars in June, the highest monthly inflow in 19 years, the central bank said Friday.

The central bank said the 1.45 billion dollars sent home by overseas Filipinos in June was 30 per cent higher than remittances in the same month last year.

It is the highest monthly inflow recorded since 1989 when the central bank started to classify foreign exchange inflows from overseas Filipinos as a separate category.

Manila - Two communist rebels were killed Friday in a clash with government troops in an eastern Philippine province, an army spokesman said.

Manila - Fighting between government troops and Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, which has displaced nearly 160,000 people, were expected to end soon, a senior aide of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Wednesday.

Presidential peace adviser Hermogenes Esperon said Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels were moving out of the villages they occupied in North Cotabato province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, due to intensified military airstrikes and ground assaults.

Manila  - The Philippines and East Timor signed on Tuesday three agreements to boost cooperation on marine and fisheries, education and foreign service training.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and visiting East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta witnessed the signing of the pacts during their bilateral meeting.

The agreement on marine and fisheries would increase consultations and cooperation in the sustainable development and responsible management of fisheries resources.

Manila - The death toll in fighting between government troops and Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines has risen to at least 28 as the military vowed Tuesday to intensify its offensives against the guerrillas.

Troops have so far flushed out hundreds of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels from two of 15 villages they have illegally occupied in the province of North Cotabato, 930 kilometres south of Manila.

Seven MILF rebels, one soldier and one civilian were killed in the fighting in North Cotabato, the military said.

Manila  - Communist rebels Monday ransacked a police station in an eastern Philippine town and seized several firearms, an army brigade commander said.

No casualties were reported in the raid on the police station, which was located inside the municipal hall compound of the town Panukulan in Quezon province, 105 kilometres east of Manila.

Colonel Tristan Kison said about 30 to 40 heavily armed rebels, wearing army uniforms, swooped down on the police station and disarmed the officers who were not able to fight back.