PRESS DIGEST - Philippine newspapers - April 14

MANILA, April 14 (Reuters) - These are the leading stories in Manila newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

- President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is inclined to grant pardon to nine military officers jailed last week for attempting to overthrow her government in 2003, said a memmber of the cabinet security cluster, who refused to be identified. (THE PHILIPPINE STAR)

- The Philippine government will soon sign the United Nations' Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Cruel and Unusual Punishment that would allow close international monitoring of the country's detention centers and prisons, the presidential palace said. (THE PHILIPPINE STAR, THE MANILA TIMES, MALAYA, BUSINESSWORLD

- Public satisfaction with President Arroyo has plummeted to lows last seen three years ago, a new Social Weather Stations survey showed. (BUSINESSWORLD)

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BUSINESS

- The Bureau of Internal Revenue expects to collect 80.6 billion pesos ($1.9 billion) this month, a record high for the tax month of April (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, BUSINESSWORLD, THE PHILIPPINE STAR, MANILA STANDARD TODAY, THE MANILA TIMES)

- The government is drawing up a 25 billion pesos cash infusion programme for the United Coconut Planters Bank to make the sequestered bank more competitive in a tougher banking environment, top government official said. (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, MANILA STANDARD TODAY)

- The government is not ruling out the sale of its 40-percent stake in Petron Corp (PCOR.PS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the country's largest oil refiner, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, adding that a decision will be made in the second half of the year. (THE PHILIPPINE STAR, MALAYA, PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER)