PRESS DIGEST - Philippine newspapers - June 20
MANILA, June 20 (Reuters) - These are the leading stories in Manila newspapers on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories.
- Government troops cordoned off several villages in Jolo as they prepared to launch an assault on the kidnappers of a television news crew and a university professor. (MANILA STANDARD TODAY)
- The Senate Electoral Tribunal has found sufficient basis that opposition candidate Aquilino Pimentel III was cheated in the 2007 senatorial elections and allowed the recount of votes to proceed. (MALAYA, MANILA STANDARD TODAY)
- The National Food Authority, the Philippines' state grain agency, said it will sell high-grade rice at 35 pesos a kilo ($0.78), but the cheaper rice that is sold for 18.25 pesos and 25 pesos a kilo will still be available. (THE PHILIPPINE STAR, MALAYA)
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BUSINESS
- Additional borrowings will take a backseat to tax revenues and asset sales in the government's plan to finance this year's budget deficit, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said. (BUSINESSWORLD, THE PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, MANILA STANDARD TODAY)
- China Metallurgical Group Corp has expressed interest in investing as much as $10 billion in a mining project and the construction of an integrated steel mill in southern Philippines, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said. (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, MANILA STANDARD TODAY)
- Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), the world's largest maker of memory chips, will build a $1 billion chip design and manufacturing facility in Clark, an official of the Subic-Clark Alliance Development said. (MALAYA, MANILA STANDARD TODAY, MANILA BULLETIN)
($1 = 44.49 Philippine peso)
(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Ben Tan)
