PRESS DIGEST - Philippine newspapers - Jan 6

MANILA, Jan 6 (Reuters) - These are the leading stories in Manila newspapers on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

- The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration reported that at least 1,000 overseas Filipino workers have lost their jobs in Taiwan and other countries due to the global financial crisis. (THE PHILIPPINE STAR)

- Philippine authorities failed to evacuate Filipinos residing in war-torn Gaza as fighting intensified between Israeli and Hamas forces. (THE MANILA TIMES, MANILA STANDARD TODAY, BUSINESSWORLD)

- Former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante asked the Court of Appeals to lift the freeze order on 32 of his 70 bank accounts suspected of holding unaccounted fertiliser funds. (MALAYA)

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BUSINESS

- The government spent 592.7 billion pesos ($12 billion) in the 11 months to November last year to settle maturing obligations, slightly up from 590.8 billion pesos in the same period in 2007, data from the Department of Finance showed. (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER)

- The government has identified nearly 19,000 hectares of logged-over areas in Davao del Norte as potential site for the proposed $1-billion farm project of San Miguel Corp (SMC.PS) and Malaysia's Kuok Group. (MANILA STANDARD TODAY)

- Globe Telecom (GLO.PS), the country's second largest telecom firm, has borrowed $66 million from international banks to finance its capital expenditures for the year. (THE MANILA TIMES, MALAYA) ($1 = 47.16 pesos) (Reporting by Karen Lema)