MANILA, Philippines -- As Malacanang backtracked on the $10-billion standby facility from World Bank for ASEAN member-countries, one of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's former closest political ally made a pitch for a "financial stimulus package" that would include the establishment of anti-poverty fund and loan facility for microfinance.

Former Speaker Jose de Venecia said that currently, Asian dollar reserves stand in excess of $3 trillion and should spur the establishment of an Asian Monetary Fund to help Asian economies weather the financial global storm and strengthen the fight against poverty.

The Pangasinan congressman said one of the components of the package would be certain of an Asian Anti-Poverty Fund and an Asian Micro-Finance Fund.

"These funds are necessary for us to really defeat poverty while we're fighting the global financial crisis and while we're moving to save our national economies," he said in a statement from Cambodia, where he met with Prime Minister Hun Sun and where he was conferred an honorary doctorate for international relations by the University of Cambodia.

He said a credit of $500 to $1,000 from both the micro-finance and anti-poverty funds could finance Asia's rural entrepreneurs, farmers and fisher folk and "help build an army of urban entrepreneurs in the region's slums and poorer quarters."

De Venecia also asked the Cambodian leader to consider a joint development of major rice and corn plantations in Cambodia and the Philippines to help in current efforts to solve Asia's rice and food shortages.

Both Premier Hun Sen and de Venecia gave support to Philippine President Arroyo's call for an Asian Summit on the sidelines of next week's Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing. The proposed meeting is aimed at establishing a regional defence mechanism in Southeast Asia amid a deepening global financial crisis.

Earlier in the day, Malacanang clarified an announcement by Arroyo and said that there was no $10-billion commitment from WB for a standby facility for financial institutions for member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

But it said World Bank is committed to helping the ASEAN weather the fallout from a global economic crisis and is looking at a "bilateral" set-up, or dealing with member countries individually.