MANILA, Feb. 12 -- The government raised PHP17 billion from the Treasury bills (T-bills) auction, higher than the initial PHP15-billion program as bids amounted to more than PHP40 billion.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said it fully awarded bids for T-bills during Monday's auction.

The 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills fetched average rates of 5.506 percent, 5.879 percent and 6.064 percent, respectively.

The average rate of the 91-day and 182-day T-bills rose from last week's 5.461 percent and 5.873 percent.

The average rate of the 364-day debt paper, however, slightly declined from last week's 6.075 percent.

"The auction was 3.3 times oversubscribed, attracting PHP42.3 billion in total tenders and prompting the Committee to double t...