Philippines' Estrada given pardon

Disgraced former Philippine President Joseph Estrada has been granted an official pardon by his successor, a government spokesman has confirmed.

President Gloria Arroyo's office said the decision was reached after Estrada agreed not to pursue political office.

Estrada was given a life sentence last month after being convicted of corruption following a six-year trial.

The 70-year-old ex-film star was found to have embezzled $80m (£42m) before being forced from office in 2001.

'Demeaning' decision

Ms Arroyo's spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, said Estrada's age and the fact he had spent six years under house arrest were taken into account when awarding the pardon.

The former president, who analysts say retains huge popularity among poor Filipinos, will officially be freed on Friday.

He had been serving his sentence at his sprawling country estate near the capital, Manila, rather than a jail cell.

Estrada's son, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, said he thanked Ms Arroyo from the bottom of his heart for releasing his father.

But political opponents of Estrada were highly critical of the move.

"If we are going to show the world that we are for the rule of law, then there should be no pardon for Estrada," said Senator Richard Gordon.

Prosecutors involved in the Estrada case said the president had no right to pardon him, and claimed the move had "totally demeaned" their efforts to combat corruption.

After his conviction for plunder in September, Estrada denounced the verdict as a "political move" and said he had been tried in a "kangaroo court".

A successful movie star with populist appeal, Estrada was elected president in 1998 by the biggest margin ever.

He was seen as a refreshing change from the wealthy elite that had previously dominated political life.

But it was not long before his presidency ran into trouble amid allegations of corruption.

He was ousted three years after coming to power in a revolt backed by the army and the church. Mrs Arroyo - who was his vice-president at the time - took over.

Philippines hit by two quakes

Two earthquakes rocked the southern Philippines in the past two days, but no casualties or damage were reported, the government said on Wednesday.

A magnitude 5.5 quake struck before dawn on Wednesday in Tawi-Tawi province, 1080 kilometres south of Manila, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

The tremor's epicentre was located north-west of Tawi-Tawi. It was felt at intensity four, the institute said.

On Tuesday, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake hit nearby General Santos City and Davao City, but there were also no casualties or damage.

The tremor was felt at intensities three and two. Its epicentre was located south-east of General Santos City.

The Philippines, which lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," is hit by about 10 earthquakes everyday but only a few are actually felt.

The worst earthquake that struck the country was in 1990 when a magnitude 7.7 tremor killed nearly 2000 people in the northern island of Luzon.

Don’t rush - Terrorist Attack or Accident?

We do not know who was the first to raise the possibility that a liquefied petroleum gas tank caused the explosion at the Glorietta 2 mall. Perhaps it was an eyewitness or perhaps it was a radio commentator speculating on air. But a few hours after the explosion, this theory was firmly set aside, and by responsible officers of the country’s armed services.

The blast was most likely caused by a “hard explosive,” Chief Insp. Reynold Rosero of the Philippine Bomb Data Center told reporters. (He also described the event as “most likely a deliberate attack.”) Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Avelino Razon echoed the line later in the day.

The day after the blast, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon issued a categorical statement. “It is a terrorist attack,” he said.

That same day, the PNP Crime Laboratory and the Bomb Data Center told the National Security Council meeting in Camp Crame that they had found traces of RDX, an ingredient used in such explosives as C4, which is used by the military.

But the following day, Sunday, the wind began to change direction. The police director for Metro Manila, Geary Barias, soft-pedaled the previous day’s assertion that RDX was found, saying its presence would have to be verified by “additional testing.”

This change came on the heels of the rather odd announcement, late on Saturday, that the blast originated from the basement of the mall.

“The explosion came from the underground, that’s why there was a crater-like structure in the stairs going to the basement,” Rosero of the Bomb Data Center told reporters. Aside from the curious construction of that statement (did the police officer say a crater in the stairs?), there is also the inconvenient fact that Makati City Councilor Jun-Jun Binay had already told the media, on the day of the blast, that the explosion left an eight-meter-wide crater on the ground floor.

Even without that conflict in testimony, however, Rosero’s unqualified assertion that the blast started in the basement was rather premature. Why? Because on the day he said that, the basement in question was still heavily flooded. (There were mentions of the flooding in the early stories.)

Where did the water come from? From two tanks in the area, one containing water for firefighting purposes, the other water for ordinary use. Thus, in the first few days after the blast, not a single person entered the basement, because the water was filthy and deep.

How can anyone say on Saturday, and categorically, that the blast emanated from the basement?

By late Monday, the authorities had changed their principal theory. Without dismissing the possibility that the Glorietta tragedy was a terrorist bombing, the investigators said the blast could have been the result of an industrial accident.

Fire Supt. Fenniore Jaudian told police reporters an “accumulation of methane” in the basement could have caught fire and, in the process, caused the diesel tank in the basement (used to run emergency power generators) to explode.

Chemical engineers from the University of the Philippines have come forward to make their skepticism about the “methane + diesel” theory public. To be sure, they have not visited the site, and they have prefaced their remarks with qualifying statements. And yet in principle, their reservations about the theory should give any reasonable person pause. Diesel is famously non-volatile; methane build-up requires a confined space and a stagnant supply of solid waste.

It seems to us that for the new theory to work, the threshold of conditions assumed to exist is rather high.

We recognize, of course, that theories change as more facts emerge. We understand that, aside from that stray remark about RDX traces being found, not much else points to a bomb. But we also realize that in some high-profile terrorist acts, it took government investigators some time to prove that bombs were in fact used.

We acknowledge the investigators’ readiness to continue considering the bombing angle -- they were, after all, the first to consider it. We recognize their testing of new theories as consistent with the emergence of new facts. We believe, however, that their main duty, at this time, is to ascertain all the necessary facts. Unless these are established, any theory offered to the public is a rush to judgment.

Mall Blast in Philippine Not a Bomb

The Philippine police announced, on Tuesday, that the mall explosion that killed 11 people and wounded more than 100 is probably an accident, and not cause of a bomb.

The blast in the Glorietta shopping center centre, in the financial district of Makati City, occurred last Friday, could have been caused by gas that was build-up in the mall’s basement, chief of Manila police forces, Geary Barias, reported.

He said that the anti-bomb investigators did not found any clues at the scene, such as an improvised explosive device component or a crater, which would indicate a bomb explosion.

"What I can say is it's very difficult to support the theory of bombing in the absence of the two critical things," he said.

In addition, he reported that the physical effects of the incident, like the upward direction of the blast, fortify the gas explosion theory.

"The petrochemical experts also examined the layout of the fuel tank and their finding is that it did not follow the standard cylindrical structure that would cause an even distribution of the pressure," Barias said. "Their tank is rectangular and that might have contributed to the explosion."

The basement of the mall contained a generator set, empty drums of diesel, a tank of bunker fuel and the septic tank.

This comes as a relief for the government, which was accused by the opposition of having orchestrated the blast in order to divert the public attention from the corruption and bribery scandal that it is into at this moment.

Ousted Philippine president Estrada seeks pardon on plunder conviction

Ousted Philippine leader Joseph Estrada, jailed after a historic corruption conviction, dropped his appeal Monday and said he will seek a presidential pardon instead.

Estrada said he authorized his lawyers to withdraw his appeal to the special anti-graft Sandiganbayan court to reverse his Sept. 12 conviction for economic plunder.

The move takes away a key obstacle for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to grant him a pardon that could free him from more than six years of detention.

"I don’t stand a chance of being acquitted in the courts," Estrada told The Associated Press by telephone, adding he would go straight to a suburban Manila hospital to visit his ailing mother if released.

Estrada, a former action movie star still adored by many of the country’s poor, has been allowed by the court to be detained in his sprawling villa near Manila while appealing his conviction.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, a close Arroyo ally, welcomed Estrada’s move saying "it can help lower the political temperature."

Arroyo recently authorized Puno to hold talks with Estrada on a possible pardon. The talks stalled, however, after Estrada decided to appeal his corruption conviction, which legally barred Arroyo from issuing a pardon.

Estrada was ousted by a non-violent "people power" revolt that was co-led by Arroyo, then his vice-president, in 2001 over allegations of massive corruption and misrule. He was arrested and detained a few months later, angering his legions of followers.

Estrada was convicted last September after a landmark six-year trial on charges that he took bribes and kickbacks while in office. He was sentenced to life in prison.

He also was ordered to forfeit a mansion and more than US$15.5 million.

Estrada has denied the charges and accused Arroyo of masterminding his removal in a conspiracy with leaders of the Roman Catholic church and senior military officers.

A former action film star who once pulled off the biggest election victory in Philippine history, Estrada remains popular among impoverished Filipinos who adored his B-movies, where he often portrayed roles as a champion of the poor.

He served as an opposition icon, often criticizing Arroyo from behind bars.

The 70-year-old Estrada said he would not seek public office even if that right were restored by presidential pardon. He said, however, he would continue to criticize Arroyo.

"If she does good, I will support her. But I’ll go against any politics that’s not good for the country and the people," he said.

Philippines is not ‘small and weak’

An article (“‘Acceptable presence’ new US basing plan,” Inquirer, 10/15/07) stated that the Philippines is “one small and weak country.” This statement is not true. It is a myth. It is a lie.

The Philippines is the 12th largest country in the world. It is larger than any European country. It is larger than any but one country in Africa. It is larger than any but one country in South America. There are over 160 countries in the world smaller than the Philippines, most barely a fraction of its size; over 150 less than half its size. Metro Manila alone is bigger than half of all the countries of the world. The Roman Empire at its height only had 60 percent of the people that the Philippines has.

Neither is the Philippines weak. To put it simply, a country that is twice the size of 90 percent of all the countries in the world is not weak. A country whose largest city is larger than most countries is not weak. Further, the Philippine economy is in the upper quartile as is the size of its military. The Philippines is an English-speaking country, giving us, in this “English-speaking” world, influence much larger than our size. Filipinos also go abroad in disproportional numbers, making many important key industries dependent upon them.

Adding to the Philippines’ importance is that we are in Asia, a far more important corner of the world -- geopolitically that is -- than, say, Africa or Latin America. The Philippines has played important, influential roles in such events as World War II, the Vietnam War and the Cold War. We will be a key player in such continuing issues as the “War on Terror” and Chinese and Indian growth.

The statement that the Philippines is small and weak is only true when the country is compared with the United States. But the United States is a historical anomaly. No country has ever been as big, powerful or dominant as the United States, particularly in the last generation or so. That country is odd. We should not look to the United States for comparison but to countries more like the Philippines, countries like Indonesia or Columbia.

Instead of asking, “Why are we not like the United States?” we should look at countries like Nigeria, Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Afghanistan, and ask, “Why are we not like them?”

World Bank: Philippines must shift farm spending to export crops

Agricultural investments in the Philippines must shift to high-value export commodities to help lift millions of farmers out of poverty, the World Bank said Monday.

The bank said 40 percent of the country's work force were in the farm sector even though it accounted for just 14 percent of economic output.

Like the rest of the developing world, the sector must be placed at the centre of the development agenda if United Nations millennium goals of halving extreme poverty by 2015 are to be realised, it said in a statement.

"In the Philippines, we think that the way to increase the benefits of agricultural public investments would be to improve the composition of expenditure, without necessarily increasing its level," said Maryse Gautier, World Bank country director for the Philippines.

"The country would be able to seize new opportunities presented by the global markets by shifting expenditures towards supporting dynamic, high-value added products with export potential.

"This will help increase incomes from agriculture, where more than 40 percent of the Philippine labor force is employed, but which (now) contributes only about 14 percent of national output," Gautier added.

Rice and corn output, used locally as the staple food and for animal feeds respectively, account for about half of the sector's production value.

‘Ineng’ almost stationary in north Luzon

Tropical storm “Ineng” remained almost stationary in northern Luzon for the last six hours, the weather bureau said in its 5 a.m. bulletin Tuesday.

Ineng was plotted at 810 kilometers east of northern Luzon with maximum winds of 65 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 80 kph, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said in its website.

It was spotted earlier hovering over the Philippine Sea 730 km east of northern Luzon at 10 a.m. Monday.

Though it was not forecast to hit land, it was still expected to continue to enhance the southwest monsoon and bring rain over the western section of Luzon and the Visayas, weather specialist Joel Jesusa said Monday.

Philippine navy commandos clash with suspected militants, leaving 10 dead

Philippine troops clashed with suspected Muslim militants on a southern island Tuesday, leaving four navy commandos and six of the guerrillas dead, a military spokesman said.

The fighting took place on the small island of Lanhil, northeast of Basilan island where U.S.-backed troops have been pursuing al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels, said marine spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan.

He said troops were responding to reports from civilians that "lawless elements" had infiltrated Lanhil when the clash erupted. Four commandos and six of the attackers were killed, while two sailors were wounded but in a stable condition, he said.

It was not immediately clear whether the guerrillas belonged to the Abu Sayyaf, which is notorious for bomb attacks, kidnappings and beheadings.

Abu Sayyaf militants and cohorts from Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiyah terror network have used Basilan and nearby Jolo island to evade government forces. According to military officials, they have sought refuge with Muslim separatists who signed a cease-fire with the Manila government.

At least 50 government troops were killed, some of them beheaded, in fighting in July and August.

Last week, two soldiers were killed and 10 wounded on Basilan when troops, searching for Abu Sayyaf militants, clashed with Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels. The MILF rebels have denied links with terrorists.

Philippine election chief resigns but maintains innocence in bribery scandal

The chief of the Philippines' Commission on Elections (Comelec) has resigned after being accused of trying to bribe another government official in order to win approval for a 330-million-US dollar broadband contract.

But Benjamin Abalos maintained his innocence and insisted that his decision to resign as Comelec chairman was intended to spare the poll body from further controversy over the deal.

'I am not admitting guilt for any wrongdoing. Neither am I giving up on my crusade to clear my name and reputation,' he said in a statement on Monday.

Last week, former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri said he was offered a bribe to help state-owned Chinese firm ZTE Corp win a broadband contract with the Philippine government.

Neri told a special Senate hearing into the scandal that Abalos had offered him the bribe.

The husband of Gloria Arroyo, president of the Philippines, has also been dragged into the controversy.

Abalos is considered an ally of the President, who has suspended the project.

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said 'we respect his decision and appreciate his desire to protect his family and the Comelec from vicious politics.'

'We wish him well as he carries on his fight to clear his name,' Bunye said in a statement.

Philippine president visits China amid bribery scandal surrounding broadband contract

The Philippine president left for a two-day visit to China Tuesday to boost trade and political ties amid a high-profile bribery scandal that led to the suspension of a broadband contract with a Chinese company.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo departed for Shanghai, where she was scheduled to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao, address the Shanghai Overseas Chamber of Commerce and attend the opening of the Special Olympics, local media reported.

The visit comes a day after the resignation of the Philippine elections chief, who was accused in Senate hearings of brokering a US$330 million (€235 million) contract with China's Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment (ZTE) Corp. and trying to bribe a Cabinet official and a Filipino businessman to clear the deal.

Benjamin Abalos denied the allegations against him, but the Supreme Court and later Arroyo have suspended the contract for a government broadband network.

Philippine officials and ZTE have said the scandal will not affect deepening trade ties between China and the Philippines.

Liang Wentao, economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Manila, told reporters earlier that corruption allegations connected to the deal "are pure domestic issues of the Philippines."

The contract was signed during Arroyo's visit to Beijing in April.

After China, Arroyo was scheduled to arrive in India for a two-day visit.

Tropical storm Lekima leaves 10 dead or missing in Philippines

Tropical storm Lekima killed nine people and left another missing in the Philippines after unleashing landslides, floods and big waves, rescuers said Sunday.

The weather bureau here lowered all cyclone alerts on the main island of Luzon as the storm dissipated into a weaker tropical depression in the South China Sea.

A landslide buried two houses in a mountain village near the town of Hingyon late Saturday, killing eight people, the civil defence office here said.

One other family member was missing while a nine year-old boy was injured, it said in an updated report.

Meanwhile, a military rescue unit recovered the body of a drowning victim in northern Manila, it said.

The storm swept across Luzon with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometres (40 miles) an hour on Saturday, shutting down ferry services, swelling dams and rivers, and unleashing floods that displaced some 3,400 people, the government agency said.

Huge waves also smashed onto the Sarangani coast of the main southern island of Mindanao, damaging 29 houses in the village of San Nicolas.

Ferry services between Luzon and the central islands resumed Sunday, but small fishing boats and other craft were warned to stay in port due to big waves.

Philippines President Orders Police To Address Extrajudicial Killings

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered newly-installed Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Avelino Razon to put a stop to the killings of political activists and journalists in the region.

The president issued the directive during the turnover of command of the PNP from Director General Oscar Calderon to Razon at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

The president said while Razon must continue Calderon's task to lead the fight against insurgency and criminality, he has an additional task of addressing extrajudicial killings.

"In addition, I instruct General Razon to continue to be on top of Task Force Usig. However, his perspective must be wider now: It must not only be on police action, but the entire criminal justice system," the president said.

She ordered Razon to immediately submit a report on updates on the murders.

"The first report I want to receive from him is an update on arrests, convictions and imprisonment of those responsible for the killings of political activists and journalists," the President said.

She said that if Gen. Calderon left a legacy on housing for the uniformed men, Razon's legacy must be the "protection of human rights."

"We deplore any and all killings of political activists and journalists," the President said, adding that she has met with the journalist community and human rights activists to resolve once and for all extrajudicial killings and put a stop to human rights abuses.

To put a stop to the killings, the president said her administration is following the recommendations of the Melo Commission to establish separate courts, expedite prosecutions, expand victim assistance and increase funding for more investigators.

Deposed Philippine president given life sentence for plunder

A Philippine court convicted deposed President Joseph Estrada of plunder and sentenced him to life in prison Wednesday, following a six-year trial in which the constitutionality of the law was challenged.

Estrada, 70, was found not guilty of perjury. Prosecutors alleged he falsely declared his financial assets.

In a phone interview with CNN, Estrada said the next step for his legal team would be to appeal his conviction in the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court to the country's Supreme Court.

"It's not yet the end of the road, we still have (an) option to appeal our case to the Supreme Court," the former president said.

Estrada's son Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada and Attorney Edward Serapio were co-defendants in the case, but were acquitted of the plunder charges.

Prosecutors, however, lauded the decision in news reports. "This is the last chance for the state to show that we can do it, that we can charge, prosecute and convict a public official regardless of his stature," special prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio said in an Associated Press report. "It shows that our judicial system really works."

Plunder is a capital offense in the Philippines, although the death penalty was abolished recently, according to AP reports. The law, passed in 1994, was prompted by the outcry over the illegal wealth acquired by former President Ferdinand Marcos while in office and ironically, Estrada was one of its main proponents when he was a senator. Estrada was the first person prosecuted under the law.

He was convicted of pocketing tens of millions of dollars during the 31 months of his presidency. As a part of his sentencing, Estrada was ordered to forfeit about $15 million and a mansion.

He was acquitted of perjury related to allegations he falsely declared his assets, according to the AP

Estrada was ousted after three years in office in January 2001 in the midst of an impeachment hearing on corruption charges that had lost its credibility with the public.

Following massive protests, current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo -- then Estrada's vice president -- was swept into power on a wave of public support and the backing of the military.

Estrada remains a popular figure in the Philippines and security forces have been on alert in the event his conviction stirs violence amongst his supporters.

"Of course, I'll try to calm them," Estrada told CNN.

Riot police and troops kept hundreds of Estrada backers several blocks from the anti-graft court in Manila that Estrada inaugurated before he was ousted, The AP reported.

Security also was very tight around the presidential palace as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo worried about a repeat of violent protests that followed Estrada's arrest in April 2001.

Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye appealed for calm.

"We hope and pray that the rule of law will prevail," Bunye said in AP reports. "Meantime, we have a country to run, an economy to grow and a peace to win. We hope that this sad episode in our history will not permanently distract us from this goal."

Former Philippine Communist leader arrested

Jose Maria Sison, the former Communist leader in the Philippines, has been arrested in the Netherlands, charged with the murders of two former political associates. 66-year-old Sison has been living in the Netherlands since 1987, and was the founder of the Philippine Communist Party. The party's military wing, the NPA or New People's Army, is waging an armed rebellion across the Philippines that has cost 40,000 lives.

The National Public Prosecutor for the Netherlands, John Lucas, explained the reasons for Sison's arrest.

"He's suspected of involvement in the murder of two people in the Philippines. We think that he was giving orders to commit the murder of his former political associates in the Philippines - Arturo Tabara and Romulo Kintanar. Mr Kintonar was shot dead in a Japanese restaurant in the Philippines. The people who did it were at that time in the restaurant, and they fired a lot of shots - at least ten - into Mr Kintonar, and he bled to death as a result of those shot wounds."

No extradition request

Kintonar and Tabara had split from the Communist Party for ideological reasons. Kintonar was killed in 2003 and his associate Tabara a year later. But John Lucas says there has been no extradition request from the Philippines:

"It's a totally Dutch investigation. We think that what he did was punishable by Dutch law, so we led the investigation because he ordered those two crimes."

Newsline's correspondent in Manila, Raisa Espinosa-Robles, shed some further light on why no extradition request has been made by the Philippine government:

"They don't want to do that because Mr Sison has managed to use the legal system in the Netherlands to prevent any extradition. It seems that the Philippine government, and even the public here, are watching very closely. Apparently this Friday the Dutch judicial system will decide whether or not to let him go out on bail. If he stays in prison, that would hamper his actions in the Netherlands, and that would also affect the Communist movement here."

In fact, Raisa Espinosa-Robles thinks that, even if he is convicted in the Netherlands, the Philippine government will still not ask for him to be extradited:

"I'm very sure that Manila will be very happy to have him serve in the Netherlands, far away from here."

Raisa Espinosa-Robles says that, while Sison has always advocated an armed struggle, nowadays there are Communists who are seeking a political solution instead.

"So we don't know exactly at this point how much of Mr Sison's arrest and trial there would affect the movement here."

Open source intelligence

National Public Prosecutor John Lucas did not reveal the source of the information that led the Dutch police to act, pointing out that since the investigation is still going on, he can't say too much about it. But he spoke of receiving "open source intelligence" that the NPA has claimed responsibility for the murders.

Although Mr Sison has been on the EU's terrorist list for some time now, he has nevertheless been allowed to continue living freely on Dutch soil. John Lucas says there are humanitarian reasons:

"Well, the suspect wanted political asylum. It was not granted to him, but we couldn't send him back to the Philippines because we can't guarantee his safety. That's why, for humanitarian reasons, he could stay here."

Philippines Police Investigates Death Of Priest

Police on Thursday, August 30, stepped up an investigation into the killing of a Catholic priest in the Philippines' Illocos Norte province, amid fears of renewed attacks against the country's clergy.

In a statement police said armed men shot and killed 48-year-old Priest
Florante Rigonan late Tuesday, August 28, as he left a house in Pinili town, where he performed a prayer service around 10 pm [local time].

"He was about to board his vehicle when armed men shot him several times with an M-16 Armalite rifle. The victim sustained bullet wounds on his body, mostly on his back," Ilocos Norte Police official Roman Felix, told reporters.

Parishioner Elisea Macalma told the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News), that she heard gunshots after the priest left her family's house in Puritac, a village of Pinili town, and called the police.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but church officials said the killing underscored concerns that clergy will be targeted once again by militants, especially those involved in church advocacies.

MORE ATTACKS

Illocos Norte, a northern Philippine province, has seen attacks carried out by rebels of the New People's Army (NPA), a paramilitary group fighting for a Communist revolution in the Philippines. Several priests have been killed or kidnapped by different rebel groups in the country.

Priest Leonardo Ruiz of the Laoag diocese's Social Action Center said in a statement that the Catholic community mourned the death of Rigonan. "This is a sad day for the Catholic community. What are they doing to us priests?" he asked.

Ruiz, who leads church advocacies, including for environmental causes, protection, said Rigonan was mainly involved in administrative functions within the Laoag diocese.

Rigonan was a member of the diocese's Commission on Temporalities, which is tasked to look
into the properties of the church. He also looked into the welfare of priests, including their hospitalization and retirement, Catholic sources said.

"PERSONAL GRUDGE"

Police investigators have not ruled out that the priest was killed over a "personal grudge" or during a robbery. There "could be personal grudge on the part of our relatives, who were jealous because we gave Father Rigonan a large sum for the reconstruction of the parish church," confirmed Macalma.

After working in the United States for 40 years, she and her husband reportedly returned to Pinili last year and donated 5 million pesos ($107,000) for reconstruction of the parish church, which used to be a small chapel. They also gave another 250,000 pesos they had raised for the project from relatives in California. Bishop Sergio Utleg of Laoag, whose diocese serves the province of Ilocos Norte, "blessed" the church in May, UCA News said.

The Laoag parish territory has 20,654 people, 48 percent of them Catholics and others members of the Philippine Independent Church and other Christian denominations, according to estimates.

Arroyo rallies Philippine troops

Tens of thousands of people are fleeing their homes in the southern Philippines as the military steps up its offensive against Abu Sayyaf fighters, sparking the heaviest clashes for years.

The fighting is centred on the mainly Muslim islands of Jolo and Basilan.

On Thursday Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Philippine president, travelled amid tight security to the southern city of Zamboanga to rally troops and receive a progress briefing from military commanders.

She has vowed to destroy the Abu Sayyaf group - which her government says has links to al-Qaeda – and has deployed thousands of troops to the region.

They are backed up by advisers from US special forces who are helping to train and provide intelligence to Philippine forces although they are barred by the Philippine constitution from taking part in combat operations.

Bomb warning

Earlier this week, Arroyo warned that the renewed military offensive may spark reprisal bomb attacks elsewhere in the country.

Her comments on Tuesday were followed hours later by a bomb explosion in Zamboanga that wounded 14 people.

Speaking after her arrival in the city on Thursday, Arroyo said the military would not be diverted from in its assault on the Abu Sayyaf group.

However, she said she had ordered officials to launch a "humanitarian offensive'' on Basilan and Jolo to balance the military assault.

Later, speaking on the island of Basilan, she praised Philippine troops during a 30 minute flying visit to one of the military's forward bases.

"Thank you for fighting terrorism," she told them.

The upsurge in fighting followed an ambush in mid-July, blamed on the Abu Sayyaf, in which 14 marines died, 10 of them beheaded.

In early August, gun battles in Jolo killed at least 27 army soldiers and 32 Muslim fighters.

The most recent fighting broke out last weekend on Basilan, with 15 soldiers and up to 30 Abu Sayyaf fighters killed.

Relief officials say the fighting has forced nearly 24,000 people to flee their homes in Jolo and Basilan, with 40 hamlets evacuated and 14 schools closed since early July.

"The situation in Basilan remains critical due to ongoing operations against Abu Sayyaf Group targets," the government relief agency said.

This week the government called off planned peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front - the largest Muslim separatist group - although it insists the move was not linked to the upsurge in fighting.

Questions asked

Al Jazeera's Veronica Pedrosa, who is in the southern Philippines, says that with amid mounting numbers of casualties and displaced civilians, more questions are being asked about the offensive.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Force, the two main rebel groups, also have a large presence on the two islands.

The military says neither group is being targeted by the current offensive, but army commanders on the ground admit some of their men are fighting alongside Abu Sayyaf.

As a result, there are fears that by stepping up the fight against Abu Sayyaf, the government could widen the conflict.

Think Tank Says U.S. Building Military Base In Southern Philippines

Asian-based think-tank Focus on the Global South (Focus) said on Wednesday there is a strong indication that the U.S. government is building a military base in southern Philippines, which is a violation of the country's Constitution.

Focus research associate Herbert Docena said the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command or Navfac, awarded a $14.4 million contract to Global Contingency Services LLC of Irving, Texas to conduct "operations support" for the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines.

The JSOTF-P is a component of the U.S. special operations command that were stationed in southern Philippines since 2002. Its primary goal is to provide assistance to the Philippines in its war efforts against terror groups.

"That is what I believe, I think Washington is in the process of building a military base," Docena said,

In a statement, Focus adds, "According to its own Web site, Navfac is the unit within the U.S. military in charge of providing the U.S. Navy with operating, support and training bases."

The group said Navfac gave Global Contingency Services a total five-year $450 million contract to "provide a full range of world-wide contingency and disaster-response services, including humanitarian assistance and interim or transitional base-operating support services."

"The specific contract for work for the JSOTF-P is expected to be completed in Jan. 2008 but other contracts may follow as part of the $450- million package," Focus said.

Docena adds, "JSOTF-P is involved in the Philippine military's operations in the South, and represents the new low-profile kind of overseas presence that the U.S. has been striving to introduce as part of its comprehensive restructuring of its forward-deployment since 2001."

The plan, he explains, is to put up smaller U.S. military bases in regions Washington believes it must have presence.

The governments of the Philippines and the U.S. denies speculations a military base is being planned in any part of the country.

Philippines' Arroyo says offensive against militants in south may prompt attacks elsewhere

A military offensive in the southern Philippines may prompt al-Qaida-linked militants to sow terror elsewhere in the country, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo warned Tuesday, saying she has ordered the military and police to bolster security.

The government will not ease off the offensive despite calls from some sectors to halt the fighting because doing so would endanger the country's security, fail to give justice to slain soldiers and embolden terrorists, she said in her opening statement at a meeting of the National Security Council.

U.S.-backed troops bombarded Muslim rebel strongholds with artillery on Basilan island Sunday, a day after 15 marines and 40 militants were killed in a fierce clash, officials said.

The marines were killed when their unit attacked a jungle hide-out of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group near Basilan's remote Ungkaya Pukan town, sparking a daylong clash during which an air force pilot also died when his helicopter crashed at sea, the military said.

The military claimed about 40 Abu Sayyaf insurgents were killed, including two commanders who allegedly took part in last month's beheadings of 10 marines on Basilan.

On nearby Jolo island, troops raided a suspected Abu Sayyaf safe house in Indanan township early Sunday and took into custody 19 men, women and children, army Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael said. After questioning, 14 were released and investigators were trying to determine if the other five were Abu Sayyaf gunmen, he added.

"With the victory of our troops and police against terrorists in Basilan and Sulu, it is not farfetched for them to attempt to sow terror in other parts of the country," Arroyo said. "That is why I have ordered our national police and armed forces to coordinate with local governments and the people to safeguard our cities and communities against any terrorist plot.

"We will not back off from our offensive in order to give justice to our marines, to give peace and progress to our country," she said, urging Filipinos to unite behind security forces.

But the government will continue to pursue peace in the south and hopes to resume talks with a larger Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, next month in Malaysia, she said.

MILF chief negotiator Mohaqher Iqbal said a scheduled meeting with government counterparts on Wednesday was canceled for unclear reasons.

Chief government negotiator Rodolfo Garcia said he sought the postponement to give him more time to consolidate data and the government's position.

Arroyo ordered a fresh offensive against the Abu Sayyaf, listed by Washington as a terrorist organization, after it was implicated in the July 10 beheadings of 10 marines after a clash in Basilan's Al-Barka township. The MILF admitted its rebels killed 14 marines during the clash, accusing them of encroaching into a rebel stronghold, but denied involvement in the beheadings.

Fighting in Southern Philippines Kills at Least 20 Soldiers

Philippine military officials say fighting between Muslim rebels and government forces on a southern island has killed at least 20 soldiers.

Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants ambushed a convoy of troops Thursday, killing at least 10 soldiers and wounding two others. The attack took place near the town of Maimbung, on the southern island of Jolo.

Another 10 soldiers were killed later in the day during a gunbattle, also near Maimbung.

The clashes are the latest in a recent wave of violence in the southern Philippines.

Troops have been massing in the southern part of the country since early July when 14 marines were killed on the nearby island of Basilan. Ten of them were beheaded.

The military and government have blamed Abu Sayyaf and another rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), for the beheadings.

The United States considers Abu Sayyaf a terrorist group with ties to the radical Jemaah Islamiyah organization. Philippine forces have been on the offensive against Abu Sayyaf since 2005, fighting primarily on the island of Jolo.

The MILF has been fighting for self-rule on Basilan for nearly three decades. In 2003, the government signed a truce agreement with the group, but clashes continue.

Tropical storm kills 11 in Philippines

Tropical Storm Pabuk triggered landslides that killed at least 11 people in the Philippines, then blew across southern Taiwan's tip Wednesday, disrupting power supplies to 3,000 households and forcing schools and offices to close.

The Chinese mainland braced for the approaching Pabuk by recalling 266,000 fishermen and sailors along with 50,401 fishing vessels to land in eastern Fujian province Wednesday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Pabuk bolstered monsoon rains across the Philippines, causing a landslide that buried seven houses and killed at least 10 people Monday in the southern gold mining town of Maco in Compostela Valley province, according to Glenn Rabonza, administrator of the Office of Civil Defense and government forecasters.

At least 80 residents were evacuated from their homes due to fears of more landslides in the hilly area, Rabonza said.

Pabuk, along with a new storm brewing off the country's northeast coast, brought more rains overnight, triggering another landslide that buried a house and killed a 9-year-old boy in the northern mountain resort city of Baguio at dawn Wednesday, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said.

In hilly Antipolo city east of the capital, Manila, policemen and firefighters pulled five children from the rubble of their house Wednesday after a concrete wall collapsed on it during a downpour, police Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan said.

The siblings, who had yelled for help from under the debris, were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, he said.

TV footage showed rescuers scrambling to lift or break a slab of concrete with sledgehammers to free one of the screaming children.

"Are you hurt?" a rescuer yelled. "Yes, my body," came a feeble voice from the debris.

Rescuers broke into applause after they pulled the last child from the rubble.

Heavy rains flooded many Manila streets, forcing schools to close and leaving commuters stranded, officials said.

The government announced that schools would remain closed Thursday in the capital and 13 other northern provinces due to expected heavy rains. Authorities reiterated a warning to small seacraft not to venture out into the sea amid the rough weather.

Floods submerged nearly all of suburban Malabon city near the capital, where water was neck deep in some low-lying neighborhoods. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in the city, local government spokesman Bong Padua said.

A tornado ripped off the thatch and tin roofs of more than 20 shanties in a farming village in Bulacan province north of Manila, panicking residents but causing no injuries, police Superintendent Pedro Silvio said.

The residents sought shelter in the homes of relatives and neighbors, he said.

Pabuk blew out of the mountainous northern Philippines shortly before noon and then swirled across the southern tip of Taiwan, bringing heavy rains but causing no major damage or casualties, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau.

On Lanyu island off southeast Taiwan, hit first by the typhoon, offices and schools were closed Tuesday afternoon.

Elsewhere, power supplies were disrupted to 3,000 households in the southern county of Pingtung, the Central News Agency said.

China, where two typhoons left about 1,000 people dead last year, recalled fishermen and sailors along with their seacraft to Fujian province Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

After hitting southern Taiwan, Pabuk _ named after a large freshwater fish in Laos _ was moving northwest at 25 kilometers (15 miles) per hour and was expected to hit Shantou in southern Guangdong province late Wednesday, Xinhua quoted the Fujian Meteorological Observatory as saying.

A stronger tropical storm, Wutip, has developed over the Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines and was forecast to hit Fujian on Friday afternoon, the observatory said.

The rains in the Philippines followed a three-month dry spell that prompted clergy to urge congregations across the predominantly Roman Catholic country to pray for rain over the weekend.

The dry spell had led to water shortages and caused sporadic electricity blackouts in the bustling Philippine capital.

Four people killed in fighting in eastern Philippines

Two communist rebels and two civilians were killed ina clash between government troops and communist rebels in the eastern Philippines, an army spokesman said Monday. Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres said the fighting erupted late Sunday when patrolling troops encountered communist rebels in Villaba town in Leyte province, 630 kilometres south-east of Manila.

Torres said the civilian fatalities were the wife and 11-year-old son of one of the slain rebels, who were inside the house with the other guerrillas when the fighting erupted.

Torres said there were no casualties on the government side and troops have recovered three assault rifles, a rifle grenade and assorted ammunition left behind by the fleeing rebels.

Communist rebel leaders rejected last week a proposal by the armed forces' chief for a three-year ceasefire as a precondition for the resumption of stalled peace talks.

The peace negotiations have been suspended since August 2004 after the guerrillas demanded that the Philippine government take steps to remove them from terrorist blacklists of the United States, the European Union and other countries.

Communist rebels have been fighting the Philippine government since the late 1960s, making the movement one of the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia.

Muslim rebels defy army ultimatum

Muslim guerrillas said they would defy a military ultimatum to surrender rebels who killed 14 Philippine marines, and braced Sunday for war, which both sides acknowledge would imperil already-shaky Malaysian-brokered peace talks.

The military announced on Saturday that it had been authorized by the National Security Council to launch "punitive actions" against Moro Islamic Liberation Front insurgents who attacked a marine convoy searching for a kidnapped Italian priest on July 10 on southern Basilan island.

Ten of the marines were found beheaded - an act condemned as barbaric by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the military.

Philippine president to lay out economic road map in speech to Congress

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was expected to focus her annual address to the nation Monday on a strong economy, a bright spot in her six years in office, as police braced for thousands of protesters.

Arroyo has weathered several coup plots since she came to power after her predecessor was ousted on corruption charges in 2001. She was tainted by allegations of cheating in the 2004 presidential polls, but has managed to make the economy the centerpiece of her presidency.

The economy is growing at its fastest pace in 17 years, surging 6.9 percent in the first quarter of 2007. The stock market has hit an all-time high and the peso is at a seven-year high against the U.S. dollar.

Economists have credited Arroyo with crucial fiscal reforms to hike revenues, reduce the budget deficit and tame inflation while inviting more foreign investment to the Philippines. But critics say growth has not alleviated poverty or significantly reduced unemployment.

The World Bank said investments amounted to 15 percent of gross domestic product in the first quarter, while comparable economies were attracting 20 percent or higher.

Nearly half of the country's 87 million people still live on US$2 (€1.45) a day, and 10 percent of the population works abroad, sending home US$12.8 billion (€9.8 billion) last year in remittances.

To maintain the pace of reforms and increase growth, Arroyo has invited foreign companies to participate in huge infrastructure projects worth nearly US$1.7 billion (€1.2 billion). The projects will involve the construction or expansion of roads, bridges, irrigation systems, and power transmission and generation facilities, and existing railway systems.

"For the next three years, President Arroyo intends to lead us on a path of economic growth, political stability and social justice," her spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Sunday.

"One can be certain that among her most important goals during that period would be to ensure more and more of our people will not just see, but more importantly experience, the tangible benefits of our growing economy," he said.

Benito Lim, a political analyst and professor at Ateneo de Manila University, said he expected a lot of skepticism because people "have heard all of her claims before and they have not been fulfilled."

He said the population was growing fast and unless the country achieved an economic growth rate of 8 percent or more, "the people will not feel the benefits."

Left-wing protesters vowed to gather up to 10,000 people outside the House of Representatives, where Arroyo was to address a joint session of Congress.

Kidnapped Italian priest released in Philippines

Giancarlo Bossi, the Italian priest abducted last month in the Philippines, has been released, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said late Thursday.

"Father Giancarlo Bossi has been freed, a car is bringing him to a Philippines police station," Italy's ANSA news agency reported Prodi as saying.

Bossi had managed to get a message to Italy's ambassador to Manila, Anna Fedele Rubens, saying he was fine, an Italian foreign ministry spokesman said.

Pope Benedict XVI welcomed the news with "great joy," said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.

Bossi, 57, is a member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME). He was seized on June 10 in Zamboanga Sibugay in the southeast Philippines.

Gian Battista Zanchi, a senior PIME official said that Bossi would be given a medical check once he had arrived at Zamboanga.

Prodi thanked all those who had worked for the liberation, including the foreign ministry crisis team which had remained in constant contact with the Philippines authorities.

Philippines military officers in the region originally blamed the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for the abduction.

Last week, Philippines marines searching for Bossi on MILF-held territory on Basilan island were ambushed by the group and 14 of them were killed.

A close adviser to President Gloria Arroyo suggested that Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic extremist group known to have ties with Al-Qaida, might be responsible.

New anti-terror law takes effect in the Philippines

A landmark anti-terror law went into force in the Philippines yesterday, adding legal muscle to a US-backed war against al-Qaeda-linked militants but ushering in what activists claim is an era of fear.

The Human Security Act will turn the country -- regarded as a breeding ground for Islamic radicals -- into hostile ground for militants and shield the public and the economy from terror attacks, officials said.

"The general population is safely guarded by this law," said Defense Undersecretary Ric Blancaflor, a chief proponent of the law.

"Only terrorists have reasons to be threatened," he said.

However, a prominent left-wing group, Bayan, said the law endangers civil liberties that Filipinos won in 1986, when they ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a nonviolent "people power" revolt.

"This is a new dark age for human rights and civil liberties," Bayan said in a statement.

About 300 left-wing activists rallied near President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's palace yesterday, carrying posters showing her image with the words, "the real face of terror." Anti-riot squads stood nearby but made no attempt to break up the protest.

Bayan said it would question the law's constitutionality before the Supreme Court within days, arguing its definition of terrorism was too broad and could cover legitimate dissent.

The law allows detention of suspected terrorists without charge for three days and includes "rebellion or insurrection" among crimes considered terrorist.

New anti-terror law raises hackles in Philippines

The Philippine government, already under fire for a poor human rights record, is coming in for more criticism as it implements a new anti-terror law many fear could be used against political opponents.

Hundreds of people held a protest on Friday against the Human Security Act that allows detention of suspects without charge for up to three days and provides for up to 40 years in jail for anyone convicted of terrorism.

The law comes into force on Sunday.

"I pray that the Lord would enlighten the people concerned and Jonas would be found and that the Human Security Act would not be implemented," said Edita Burgos, whose activist son has been missing for over two months.

Jonas Burgos, a member of a left-wing farmers' group in the northern Philippines, is widely believed to have been picked up by a military "black squad" on April 28, and has not been heard of since.

Black squads is the term used for armed men in civilian clothes or masked men on motorcycles who have been seen picking up left-wing activists or firing at them.

The military has denied it has anything to do with the missing 37-year-old Burgos.

"I believe my son is still alive and I pray that I recover him alive," his mother told Reuters.

"The pain is really unbearable. If it were not for our faith, then I guess we would really break down. Thank God for our faith and thank God for you people out there."

A local human rights group has said about 200 students, trade union and peasant leaders have disappeared since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to power in 2001. More than 800 left-wing activists have been killed during the same period.

A U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings said in February the military was responsible for many of the deaths.

The military has denied the allegations and has blamed Maoist rebels for most of the killings, calling it an internal war.

NOTHING TO FEAR

Arroyo signed the anti-terror legislation into law in March, but postponed its implementation until two months after congressional elections on May 14 to assure the president's political opponents it would not be used against them.

While the legislation was languishing in Congress for 11 years, the Philippines was criticized by the United States and other Western governments as the weak link in the global fight against terrorism.

The country is fighting Islamic militants in the south and communist rebels across the country.

Since 2000, more than 350 Filipinos have died in about 120 bombings blamed on Muslim militants, mostly in the south. The communist rebels do not target civilians but have been known to carry out land mine attacks against security forces.

Besides detention without charges and harsh jail sentences, the law allows security forces to investigate bank accounts of suspected terrorists or organizations used as financial conduits.

Electronic surveillance is also allowed but only after court approval.

"There's nothing to fear if you are not planning anything illegal," said Ricardo Blancaflor, defense undersecretary and the spokesman for the government's anti-terror task force.

He said there were enough safeguards to prevent security forces from abusing the law, adding some law enforcement agencies were complaining it was too restrictive and could work against them.

One safeguard allows anyone wrongfully detained to receive 500,000 pesos ($10,800) compensation for each day in custody.

Nevertheless, the law is coming in for severe criticism.

About 500 left-wing activists marched in Manila on Friday and held a protest rally, demanding lawmakers repeal the act and stop its implementation.

"It's a bill that will trample on the rights of the people," said left-wing leader Carol Araullo. "It will be used by the government against its enemies, its political enemies. It is tantamount to undeclared martial law."

Senator Mar Roxas, a former ally of Arroyo, said: "The government already suffers from highly negative public perceptions in regard to its human rights record.

"To push the limits further would only breed more fear and anger among the people. Better to err on the side of human rights than to breed tyranny."

Death Toll Rises to 15 in Philippines Ferry Sinking

The bodies of a child and two other victims of a Phillipine ferry sinking washed ashore Friday, raising the death toll to 15 as strong waves prevented divers from recovering corpses spotted inside the sunken vessel, officials said.

The inter-island MV Blue Water Princess ferry tilted and sank about 500 yards from San Francisco town in Quezon province during a storm early Thursday.

The army counted at least 129 survivors in San Francisco and nearby San Andres town, 140 miles southeast of Manila, said regional army spokesman Lt. Col. Rhoderick Parayno.

Three bodies washed ashore early Friday taking the tally of recovered bodies to 15, Parayno said, without giving other details.

Divers attempting to search the ferry's interior "saw many dead bodies insides," he said, adding that rain at the site was hindering operations. "They can't start the recovery due to strong waves."

The number of people on board the vessel when it sank was not clear.

Henry Buzar, a disaster relief coordinator in Quezon province, told Radio DZBB that the passenger manifest did not include all the people inside trucks, buses and other vehicles on board the ferry.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the coast guard and the Department of Transportation and Communication to investigate the incident as she expressed her sympathies for the families of those who died.

The coast guard said it will convene a special board of inquiry.

Arroyo also urged authorities to remind sea vessels to heed weather forecasts and assure passenger safety and welfare at all times.

San Francisco Mayor Ernani Tan quoted survivors and crew as saying 14 trucks tilted to one side of the vessel in rough waters spawned by strong monsoon winds.

"The vehicles caused imbalance in the ship," he said.

Two vessels have been placed on standby to deal with a possible oil spill from the ferry, coast guard chief Adm. Damian Carlos said.

Arroyo: Anti-terror law is 'defending way of life'

Delivering her strongest pitch yet for the controversial anti-terror law officially named the Human Security Act (HSA), President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said here that the new measure is not just about crushing terrorists in the country but "about defending our way of life."

Arroyo, speaking at the closing of the Mindanao Peace and Security Summit here, said the HSA was vital in preventing terrorist attacks on vital installations, singling out Mindanao's power infrastructure.

"I am hereby ordering the increased security of vital power and transportation facilities in Mindanao," she said. "Let us begin the implementation of the Human Security Act by using it as a tool to prevent multi-billion-peso hydroelectric dams and power grids from being whacked by terrorists."

She said knocking out these facilities caused more than just inconvenience.

"The deeper reality is when there is no power, there is no work, and therefore, the Human Security Act is about defending our way of life," she said.

At the same time, Arroyo offered assurances that civil and human rights will be guaranteed and that violators of these rights will be dealt with by law.

Arroyo said all those, including government agencies, tasked with implementing the law must ensure that the rights of citizens are respected.

"Hand in hand with the need for economic prosperity is the need to strengthen our institutions of government to ensure that civil rights and social justice are available to all Filipinos, not just a privileged few," she said.

Various groups, including the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, have expressed concern that the law might be used to quell dissent but Arroyo has said there is no stopping the HSA from taking effect on July 15.

In a declaration, participants of the summit expressed support for the HSA and pledged to help in the information drive on the law.

Arroyo also stressed that the military "must continue on its path to reform."

"They must become even more professional every day at the same time they fight to eliminate the armed terrorist threats to the nation from religious extremists or communist terrorists," she said.

Arroyo condemned anew political killings, including those of members of media.

"The political terrorists who live outside the boundaries of human justice and who have marked the stability of our nation and the rule of law for extinction live by no moral code," Arroyo said. "We must band together as a people and as public servants to stop this violence."

While reiterating her belief that 99 percent of the military and the police are good, she reminded them that "fidelity to the Constitution is a sacred duty."

"These public servants have a moral obligation to uphold the Constitution and to protect the innocent. For this reason, any violent crime that a member of the law enforcement or military community may commit against innocent people is even more wrong and must be stopped. No one is above the law," she said.

"We are entering a new era of civil and human rights. The front line of this effort is built on lifting up the poor and liberating them from poverty," she said.

At the same time, she hinted of what could be in store for communist rebels, saying communities will also be protected from harassment, kidnapping, and plunder "that are so often part of the communist terrorist[s] who flog a failed ideology."

"Our government will protect the political rights of any person who wishes to participate in our democracy, however we might disagree on philosophy and approach," she said.

"We cannot stand idly by, however, and let the purveyors of violence cloak their agenda behind the innocent men and women they hold hostage to their failed ideology. We will wrestle with these failed terrorists to the ground and free the nation to live in peace and harmony," Arroyo said.

She also said "sweeping legislation" will be proposed to Congress to help end the killings, which have earned the administration increasing criticism from the international community, and remove the stain of political violence from the nation.

This legislation, she said, will guarantee "swift justice" through more funding for special courts to prosecute rights violators.

The rights of victims will also be strengthened through more money for law enforcement and tougher penalties will be imposed for anyone committing a crime with a firearm.

Arroyo directed adviser for the peace process Jesus Dureza to make sure the provisions in the declaration of the summit are accomplished. She also instructed Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. to find a way to meet the 30 percent proposed increase budget for Mindanao.

Malacañang assures anti-terror act won't be used vs govt critics

Malacañang on Wednesday allayed fears that the anti-terrorism law will be used against critics of President Arroyo once it is enforced on Sunday amid criticisms that it is meant to quell dissent against her administration.

In a statement, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the Human Security Act is meant to restore peace in provinces "where tourism and commerce are held hostage to the evil designs of terrorists."

"A single strike of a terrorist costs millions of pesos in lost lives, damaged properties, and fear that keep investors, tourists, and other foreign guests away. The cost is simply too high for us to maintain a status quo where deterrence, protection and justice are not strong enough to ensure our people's safety," the press secretary said.

He said criticisms from the opposition and civil society groups are part of the "spirit of democracy," which the administration commits "to nurture and uphold."

"Rather than criticizing government for lapses in a law that has yet to be implemented, let us join hands in fighting terror," he added.

The act was signed by Mrs. Arroyo in March to bring the country in line with its Southeast Asian neighbors in battling Islamic militants, as Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) extremists increasingly forge links with its Filipino counterparts especially the Abu Sayyaf.

Mrs. Arroyo has said the law would give the Philippines "preemptive capability" to check the movement of arms and funds that finance terrorism.

The law is the first in the Philippines specifically to address terrorist offenses, defining terrorism as a criminal act that "causes widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace."

The passage of the law was praised by the United States and Australia, the Philippines' staunchest anti-terror allies.

But rights groups fear the law could be abused by military and police authorities eager to protect Mrs. Arroyo from her political opponents.

The influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines led the criticisms as it urged the government to review the controversial anti-terror law. The CBCP, whose comments on issues help shape public opinion in this majority Catholic country, warned that the law could be abused.

Mrs. Arroyo's popularity remains low after she survived two impeachment bids in Congress over allegations of vote fraud.

There have also been widespread street protests in the past year demanding she step down.

Rights groups have raised a number of questions about the law, including a provision that lets police detain someone, on mere suspicion, for up to three days.

The law also gives authorities the green light to use surveillance, wiretapping and seize assets.

Philippines bishops urge government to revisit anti-terror law

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Monday urged the Filipino government to revisit the controversial 2007 Human Security Act, saying that "many voices are apprehensive" about the anti-terror legislation. Critics say the law defines terrorism too loosely and gives government authorities too much latitude to restrict civil liberties. The law, which was signed by President Gloria Arroyo in March and is scheduled to go into effect on July 15, allows police to detain suspected terrorists for three days without charges, and also allows the house arrest of suspects released on bail.

The CBCP, the official organization of the Catholic episcopacy in the Philippines, is highly influential as nearly 81 percent of the Filipino population is Catholic. In March, a United Nations human rights expert urged the Philippines to amend or repeal the anti-terrorism law because it allows house arrests without strong evidence of guilt and transfers the power to review detentions to the executive branch instead of an independent judicial body.

Troops are killed, some beheaded, in southern Philippines

At least 14 government troops were killed in some of the heaviest fighting with Muslim insurgents in the southern Philippines in recent months, officials said Wednesday.

Military officials said they had recovered the bodies of 14 marines after clashes with suspected Abu Sayyaf militants late Tuesday in Tipo-tipo, a hinterland town on Basilan island, and that at least 10 of them had been beheaded.

A marine spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Caculitan, said in Manila that 50 marines had clashed with more than 300 rebels. "We were totally outnumbered," he said.

Major General Ben Mohammad Dolorfino suggested that the marines had been beheaded by Abu Sayyaf in retaliation for the slaying of the son of one of the group's leaders. "They got angry, that's why they decapitated the marines," Dolorfino said.

However, leaders of another group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said it was its own fighters who had fought with the marines and killed 23 of them. But the front's spokesman, Abu Majid, denied the front's fighters had beheaded the marines. He said this was done by "unidentified groups" after the fighting, and that the front planned to investigate. He said four rebels had been killed and seven wounded.

Majid also said the violence could have been avoided had the government troops, who had entered the area in search of a kidnapped Roman Catholic priest from Italy, consulted with the front first. "We have all the mechanism in the cease-fire that allows coordination and to prevent this kind of unfortunate incident," he said.

The military said the marines had been patrolling Tipo-tipo to check out reports that the Reverend Giancarlo Bossi, who was kidnapped last month in Zamboanga Sibugay Province, also in the southern Philippines, had been taken to Basilan.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has been fighting for a separate Islamic state for Filipino Muslims in the south for three decades; a cease-fire is in effect, although there have been violations. The agreement requires both sides to coordinate their movements if one side ventures into an area where the other side is present. Majid said he did not understand why the marines did not notify the front of its operations in Tipo-tipo.

Mohaqher Iqbal, the head of the front's negotiating panel, said: "Our troops thought they were under attack. That's why they fought back. It should have not happened."

The Philippine government had said that some elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were also working with Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah, two groups that have been blamed for some of the most horrific terrorist attacks in the country since 2001.

The front has denied any connection with Abu Sayyaf or Jemaah Islamiyah, but promised to purge its ranks of extremists.

Philippines poll official on fraud charge

Philippines police say they have arrested a senior election official at the centre of an alleged massive vote fraud in the south of the country.

The arrest follows a call by the Elections Commission for Lintang Bedol to be arrested after he failed to answer a summons to produce election documents which he claimed had disappeared from his office.

Mr Bedol was supervising provincial elections in the southern province of Maguindanao, where independent poll observers alleged massive cheating took place in mid-term elections on May 14.

Witnesses also said votes were rigged to favour pro-government candidates.

Philippine military chief says kidnapped Italian priest is alive

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1 killed in melee in immigration jail

Tension gripped the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BI) detention cell in Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig City late Thursday night after inmates engaged in a riot that left one of them dead.

The fatality was identified as Jessie James Bronsil, reportedly an American national, who was shot and hit in the chest by BI agent Ricardo Iresare during the chaos.

The US Embassy denied that Bronsil is an American. Bronsil had claimed that he is an American but he failed to show documents to prove it.

Investigation conducted by the Taguig police showed that the incident started at about 9:15 p.m. when Bronsil, who was allegedly drunk and armed with a bladed weapon, went amuck inside the cell.

Homicide investigator Conrad Mapili said jail guard Walter Blardone was able to grab the weapon from Bronsil during a scuffle while the other inmates joined in and started throwing rocks, bottles and other objects at the responding guards.

After the victim was pacified, the guards returned to their posts but Bronsil managed to get hold of a screw driver and challenged the guards to shoot him. When the BID guards ignored him, Bronsil proceeded to the cell's kitchen breaking the glass door and window.

It was at this juncture that Iresare tried to pacify the victim but Bronsil stabbed the guard prompting Iresare to shoot the victim.

Bronsil was brought to the Sabili Hospital in Lower Bicutan and was later transferred to the South Superhighway Medical Center in Parañaque City where he was declared dead on arrival by attending physician, Anna Marie Vilaria.

Bronsil was previously detained at the Muntinlupa City jail on charges of illegal possession of firearms and was brought to the BI jail while authorities are processing his deportation papers. Taguig Police Director Alfred Sotto Corpus said Bronsil had been detained at the BID cell for almost a year and was being kept in a shanty beside the detention cell where he is detained as he was suffering from tuberculosis.

Philippines election violence on rise

Election-related violence continues to rise in the Philippines, just over a month before congressional and local elections.

Authorities say four poll-related incidents, including a bomb attack, have occurred in the last week.

The Philippine National Police have reported 46 poll-related violent incidents in the country since January, when campaigning started for the May elections.

A bomb attack occurred in Lanao del Norte province in the south on Easter Sunday, where seven people were injured, mostly supporters of the province's Governor.

Two people were killed in another poll-related incident in the northern province of Isabela, also on Easter Sunday.The fatalities included a relative of a mayoral candidate.

A candidate for governor in the north and a local election officer in the western province of Palawan were shot and killed in separate incidents during the week.

Bali suspect escapes Philippines raid

A feared Muslim rebel leader and one of the suspected masterminds of the 2002 Bali bombings escaped a dawn raid on their island hideout in the southern Philippines, the military said.

Isnilon Hapilon, one of the heads of Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines' fiercest militant group, and Umar Patek, believed to have planned the Indonesian resort island attack that killed more than 200, including 88 Australians, fled their camp on Jolo, 950km south of Manila.

Major Eugene Batara said three Abu Sayyaf rebels were captured and two M16 rifles seized in the raid, which is part of a long-running campaign to flush Islamic militants from Jolo, where they train and plot attacks across Southeast Asia.

Batara said US-trained troops were still combing areas around the camp.

Hapilon, who has a $US5 million ($A6.12 million) bounty on his head from the US government for kidnapping Americans, has emerged as one of Abu Sayyaf's top strategists after troops killed the group's top two leaders and more than 70 members in a campaign that started in August last year.

Umar Patek and suspected Bali accomplice Dulmatin, also an Indonesian, are sheltering with the Abu Sayyaf.

Abu Sayyaf is one of four Islamic rebel groups operating in the southern Philippines, where Muslims have fought for decades for independence from the largely Catholic nation.
But while other rebels have entered peace talks, Abu Sayyaf is involved in regular clashes with government troops, although its practice of kidnapping for ransom has fallen away in recent years.

3 top cops ousted for 'mishandling' hostage drama

The Manila police chief and two of his officers will be removed from their posts, the interior secretary said Thursday, in the fallout from a hostage standoff in which 26 children were held for 10 hours on a bus in the name of social reform.

Armando "Jun" Ducat Jr., owner of the 145-student Musmos Day Care Center in Manila's Parola slum community, used the globally televised standoff Wednesday to demand better education and housing for poor children.

He and an accomplice were armed with two hand grenades, an Uzi rifle and a pistol.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said police failed to control the crowd of onlookers near City Hall, allowed unauthorized people into the scene, and permitted contact between the hostage-takers and other people - including media - without proper clearance.

Senior Superintendent Danilo Abarzosa and two of his staff will be asked to step down for failing to follow proper procedures, Puno said.
Abarzosa said he has not received the order to step down, but "like a good public servant, I will follow my superiors."

Senator Ramon Revilla Jr., a friend of Ducat, went on the bus to help negotiate an end to the crisis. Ducat later surrendered to a provincial governor, but not until he railed against corruption and politicians' failure to make good on promises to provide free education and housing for the poor.

Abarzosa said police later discovered the grenades did not have a detonator and would not have exploded, but that the guns and bullets were real.

Despite insurgencies in the country's south and a high crime rate in the capital, the government has been trying to portray the Philippines as a safe destination for tourists and investors.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the two suspects to be treated "with the full force of the law" to prevent Ducat, who has a history of attention-grabbing stunts, from repeating his action and to serve as a warning to possible copycats.
"The end does not justify the means. Despite the seemingly noble issues being raised in this bizarre drama, this government shall not stand for prank-terrorism," she said.

Ducat was unrepentant.

"No, I don't regret anything," he told The Associated Press Television News from the Manila police jail. "The children's wishes were fulfilled, all 145 children can now go to school all the way up to college."

Ducat, a 56-year-old engineer, chartered the bus for a field trip at the end of the school year. Instead, he had the driver take them near City Hall where he announced he was taking the passengers hostage.

Arroyo treated the children, their parents and teachers to a different field trip - an audience at the presidential palace, where she served a snack of spaghetti with meatballs and spring rolls.
Sitting on a throw pillow on the carpet at the Palace's Heroes' Hall, Arroyo chatted with the children and posed with them for cameras.

The parents and their children expressed no ill will toward "Sir Ducat," as they fondly called the man they said has provided free day care and paid for the teachers.
"My wish is that ... what Sir Ducat had worked so hard for be realized because we from the squatter area know the hardship he went through to help us poor people," said Shiela Malabo, whose 7-year-old son, Fred, was among the hostages.

Philippines most corrupt: foreign business

The Philippines is perceived by foreign businessmen as Asia’s most corrupt economy, according to a survey that also found other countries failing to tackle the problem decisively.

Singapore and Hong Kong were seen as the cleanest economies, while China, Indonesia and Vietnam posted improvements, the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said in a summary made available to AFP yesterday.

Perceptions of corruption in Thailand worsened, with the junta that seized power last September seen as little better than the government it ousted.

“The Philippines has the distinction of being perceived in the worst light this year,” PERC said after polling almost 1,500 expatriate business executives in 13 countries and territories across the region in January and February.

In a grading system with zero as the best possible score and 10 the worst, the Philippines got 9.40, down sharply from its grade of 7.80 last year. Indonesia was deemed Asia’s most corrupt country in 2006.

President Arroyo, also an economist, dismissed the survey results, saying PERC was using “old data” and noting that the country’s international credit ratings had improved on her watch.

PERC, which provides advice to private firms and governments, said the figures showed a deterioration of perception rather than a change in the actual situation in Manila.

“Our credit ratings are fine,” Arroyo told Business News Asia magazine. “The political analysis, they work on old data.”

“They don’t work on up-to-date data.”

“It is bad and has been bad all along,” PERC said in its report. “People are just growing tired of the inaction and insincerity of leading officials when they promise to fight corruption.”

Constancia de Guzman, head of an anti-graft commission that works for Arroyo’s office, insisted the Philippines was taking action.

“The government is doing something,” she told journalists, “but the people want to see actual results like convictions, dismissals and the like.”

In contrast, Indonesia — bottom of the pile last year — was pleased that its image had improved. It now lies in joint 11th place with Thailand.

“Of course we are happy,” said Johan S.P. Budi, spokesman for Indonesia’s National Anti-Corruption Committee. “At least it shows the seriousness of the government in its efforts to improve its image and in curbing corruption.”