PRESS DIGEST - Philippine newspapers - July 21

MANILA, July 21 (Reuters) - These are the leading stories in Manila newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

- Oil firms in the Philippines, led by partly government-owned Petron Corp (PCOR.PS), have agreed to limit an increase in the price of diesel to 1.50 pesos ($0.3) a litre following an appeal from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. (ALL PAPERS)

- The influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and other church organisations are planning to hold protests this month against proponents of the reproductive health and population control measures. (THE PHILIPPINE STAR, MANILA STANDARD TODAY)

- The Presidential Commission on Good Government will meet a lawyer of Imelda Marcos to convince the former First Lady to testify and boost the government's ill-gotten-wealth case against businessman Lucio Tan. (MANILA STANDARD TODAY)

- More and more Filipinos are going hungry amid a a backdrop of rising food prices but the increase was relatively minimal and is far from historical highs, a new Social Weather Stations survey showed. (BUSINESSWORLD)

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BUSINESS

- Finance officials expect the public sector to post a consolidated deficit of 25.6 billion pesos this year instead of a surplus that was originally expected from balancing the budget. (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, MANILA STANDARD TODAY)

- Suez Energy Asia, the winning bidder of the 600-megawatt Calaca coal fired plant, is urging the government to consider the current rate hike petition of the National Power Corp to increase its basic rate by 0.37 pesos per kilowatt-hour. (THE PHILIPPINE STAR, MANILA STANDRAD TODAY, THE MANILA TIMES)

- Flag carrier Philippine Airlines PHL.UL expects to report "significantly lower" earnings for the year as soaring fuel costs eat into its margins, its president said. (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER)

($1 = 44.45 Philippine pesos)

(Reporting by Rosemarie Francisco)