Manila - Philippine share prices soared 6.02 per cent Tuesday, tracking Wall Street's strong performance after a US government bailout of the banking giant Citigroup.

The 30-share composite index of the Philippine Stock Exchange gained 108.46 points to close at 1,908.18.

A total of 1.39 billion shares worth 1.9 billion pesos (38.15 million dollars) were traded. Gainers led losers 77 to 26, while 24 issues were unchanged.

Manila - Six people drowned and four were missing and feared dead in floods in the northern Philippines, the Office of Civil Defence (OCD) said Monday.

More than 230,000 people have been displaced by the floods in 20 towns and two cities in the northern provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Aurora and Kalinga.

Manila - A former close ally of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday accused the embattled leader of corruption and bribery to keep herself in power.

Former House of Representatives speaker Jose de Venecia alleged "large-scale" and "wide-ranging" corruption under the Arroyo administration as he urged his colleagues to support an impeachment motion against the president.

"Everybody is for sale in this country," he lamented. "The time has come for us to cleanse ourselves. Let us please use our conscience if we want to cleanse this government, this country and this Congress."

Manila - One communist rebel was killed and another injured in a clash with government troops in an eastern Philippine province, an army spokesman said Monday.

Tokyo  - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo departed the western Japanese city of Osaka Saturday for a summit in Lima, leaving her husband at hospital after he fell ill on their flight, media reports said.

The condition of Jose Miguel Arroyo, 62, was not announced.

Philippine Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno had denied reports that Mr Arroyo had suffered a heart attack, saying he had "stomach cramps and back pains."