Manila  - June 2010 may still be more than 18 months away, but Filipinos are already looking forward to the day when Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is due to step down from power after nine years of tumultuous reign.

In 2009 politicians are expected to gear up for the presidential race and civil society groups to guard against plots to derail the May 2010 vote.

The 61-year-old US-educated Philippine leader has assured Filipinos that she will vacate her post when her term ends in 2010, leaving behind strong economic fundamentals that she hopes will tide the country over amid the raging global economic crisis.

Manila  - Police in the Philippine capital Manila were on alert Friday as thousands of people were expected to take to the streets for a rally against efforts to amend the constitution that would extend the term of scandal-tainted President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

More than 4,000 policemen have been deployed around Manila, especially in the financial district of Makati City where the demonstration was going to be held later Friday.

At the Malacanang presidential palace, additional security forces were deployed while container vans and barbed wire were used to block a main road leading to the sprawling compound in case protestors march to the area.

Zamboanga City, Philippines - Two marines were killed in an accidental grenade blast in the southern Philippines, a regional navy commander said Friday.

Commodore Alexander Pana said the accident occurred Thursday evening in the village of Comalig in Tipo-Tipo town, Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila.

He said details were still sketchy on how the grenade exploded, but noted the incident was "a plain accident" and not related to the military's offensive against Muslim militants in the province.

The military has stepped up its offensive against al-Qaeda-linked Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels in Basilan after a series of kidnappings by the guerrillas.

Manila - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Thursday ordered agriculture and health officials to closely monitor an outbreak of an Ebola virus strain in several pig farms in three northern provinces.

Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said Arroyo wanted agriculture authorities to prevent the Ebola Reston virus from spreading to other pig farms in the country.

Golez, a medical doctor, assured the public that the Ebola Reston virus found in the pigs was not harmful to humans.

Manila - Three men were killed when they were struck by falling rocks while panning for gold in a southern Philippine province, police said Thursday.

The accident happened on Wednesday on a creek in Compostela town, Compostela Valley province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, said police Senior Superintendent Ronald Dela Rosa.

Dela Rosa, the provincial police director, said the bodies of the victims were recovered Thursday.

Manila  - The Philippine Supreme Court has set aside a fund to reward people who can provide information leading to the capture and conviction of killers and attackers of Filipino judges, a court official said Thursday.

Justice Presbitero Velasco, chairman of the Supreme Court's committee on security, said the high tribunal has approved a one-million peso (23,833-dollar) fund financed by from the Philippine Judges Foundation.

Under the programme, tipsters will be awarded 100,000 pesos for information leading to the identity of suspects in the killing or attacks on judges. Another 100,000 pesos will be given upon conviction.

The reward fund was set up amid unabated attacks on members of the judiciary.