PRESS DIGEST - Philippine newspapers - April 29

MANILA, April 29 (Reuters) - These are the leading stories in Manila newspapers on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

- The anti-graft court issued a warrant to arrest former Justice Secretary Hernando Perez and his wife in connection with a $2 million ($47,415) extorion complaint filed by former congressman Mark Jimenez. (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, THE PHILIPPINE STAR, MANILA STANDARD TODAY, MALAYA)

- Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations, deferred her sponsorship of the controversial Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement to give senators more time to study the subject. (THE MANILA TIMES, MALAYA)

- The House of Representatives withdrew its objections and agreed to pass the cheaper medicines bill before Labour Day. (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER)

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BUSINESS

- State-owned Landbank of the Philippines started offering a high-yield special deposit facility to overseas Filipino workers and their families, aiming to issue about 2 billion pesos worth of 5 1/2-year securities from the initial tranche. (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER)

- Smart Communications Inc, the wireless unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (TEL.PS), said it bought 3G licensee Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enteprise (CURE) for over 419 million pesos ($10 million) . (MANILA STANDARD TODAY, THE MANILA TIMES, PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, MALAYA)

- Net Group of the Rufino family has won the rights to acquire and develop a prime 1.2-hectare property in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, south of Manila for 2.032 billion pesos. (MANILA STANDARD TODAY, PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, THE MANILA TIMES)

($1 = 42.18 pesos)

(Reporting by Karen Lema)