MANILA, Philippines ? The closure of 27 rural banks over the past year resulted in job losses for 1,000 workers, who now need help in finding employment, a labor leader said Monday.

Many large foreign banks are expected to downsize their Philippine operations, Ernesto Herrera, secretary general of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, also said, citing two closures this month.

UK-based Standard Chartered Bank closed its offices in Quezon City and Caloocan City earlier this month, cutting to four the number of its Philippine branches, Herrera said. US-based financial services giant Wachovia Corp., which was recently acquired by Wells Fargo & Co., closed its representative office in Cebu City, he added.

Herrera also noted that last month the central bank closed down 12 rural banks with a total of 50 branches, and this month closed three more.

Herrera, a former chairman of the Senate labor, employment and human resources development committee, asked the banking industry?s groups ? Bankers Association of the Philippines, Chamber of Thrift Banks, and Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines ? to help find new jobs for the displaced personnel, mostly branch managers, cashiers, accountants, tellers, and credit investigators.

Closed down this month were the Rural Bank of Sta. Rita (Pampanga) Inc., Rural Bank of Bacolor (Pampanga) Inc., and the Rural Bank of Subangdaku (Cebu) Inc.

Padlocked last year were Rural Bank of Parañaque Inc.; Pilipino Rural Bank (Cebu) Inc.; Rural Bank of Bais (Negros Oriental) Inc.; Rural Bank of San Jose (Batangas) Inc.; Rural Bank of East Asia (Cebu) Inc.; First Interstate Rural Bank (Leyte) Inc.; Philippine Countryside Rural Bank (Cebu) Inc.; Dynamic Rural Bank (Batangas) Inc.; Nation Bank (Bacolod City) Inc.; Rural Bank of Carmen (Cebu) Inc.; Rural Bank of DARBCI (South Cotabato) Inc.; and San Pablo City Development Bank (Batangas) Inc.

Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. has said it intends to start paying out by mid-February the deposit insurance claims of 135,000 depositors of the 12 rural banks closed down last year.

The central bank has given assurance that the Philippine banking system remains stable, with the closed banks accounting for a small fraction of its resources.