News on Manila

Philippine voters would defy church on birth control: poll

2010-03-12T09:16:22Z

<div><p>Seven in 10 Filipinos would defy the powerful Roman Catholic church and elect a president who supported the use of condoms and pills for birth control, according to survey released Friday.</p><p>The church has stepped up its efforts in the mainly Catholic Philippines ahead of national elections in May against the introduction of legislation to allow state-funded contraceptives.</p><p>But while the c...

Philippines Battle Over Condoms

2010-03-08T00:46:10Z

Protesters display condoms and shout slogans during a rally at the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Monday March 8, 2010 in Manila to ask the bishops to "bless the condoms as a conciliatory gesture to unite for reproductive health and women's rights." A battle is brewing between the influential Catholic ...

Philippine health chief, church fight over condoms

2010-03-08T00:45:13Z

<div id="subtitle">Philippine health chief takes on powerful Catholic church to hand out condoms to fight AIDS</div><div><p>On Valentine's Day, Philippine government health workers hit the streets of Manila to hand out roses and condoms to passers-by.</p><p>The message was clear in a country with a relatively small but rapidly growing HIV-positive population: Avoid unprotected sex.</p><p>It didn't get far...

Philippines Abu Sayyaf

2010-03-07T00:00:54Z

Police and military escort two of three alleged members of the Abdul Basit Usman's terror cell, center and center left in blue, following a news conference Friday, March 5, 2010, at the Armed Forces of the Philippines headquarters at Manila's Quezon ci...

Communist rebels kill 11 Philippine soldiers

2010-03-06T05:15:10Z

<div id="subtitle">Communist rebels kill 11 Philippine soldiers in ambush</div><div><p>Communist rebels ambushed a Philippine army platoon south of Manila on Saturday, killing at least 11 soldiers and wounding seven others in one of the military's largest recent losses, an army spokesman said.</p><p>About 60 New People's Army guerrillas who ambushed th...

Philippines warns terror threat remains despite arrests

2010-03-05T10:16:28Z

<div><p>Islamist militants continue to pose a serious terrorist threat in the Philippines despite a series of high-profile arrests of alleged bomb-makers, the military said Friday.</p><p>The crackdown has crippled cells devoted to making and planting improvised explosive devices, including roadside bombs similar to those in use in Afghanistan and Iraq, said the top military comma...

Revenge bombings in Philippine capital foiled: military

2010-03-04T10:16:37Z

<div><p>Three captured Islamic militants had been planning to launch bomb attacks in the Philippine capital in revenge for the killing of one of their commanders, the military said Thursday.</p><p>The arrest of the three Filipinos in a Manila suburb on Wednesday thwarted the plot by the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group...

Philippines Stolen Ivory

2010-03-03T02:00:31Z

A Philippine Parks and Wildlife worker points with his foot, fake elephant tusks made of PVC pipes, which were used to replace stolen original tusks inside a storage room at the Parks and Wildlife office at Manila's Quezon city Wednesday March 3, 2010, in the Philippines. A Philippine wildlife officer is suspected of stealing more than 1,500 pounds (700 ki...

Philippine militant caught after 9 years in hiding

2010-02-22T08:24:58Z

&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;A Filipino member of an Al Qaeda-linked group wanted for the kidnapping and murder of American tourists has been arrested in the Philippine capital after nine years on the run, authorities said Friday.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jumadail Arad was arrested Thursday while trying to enter a crowded ...

Peace monitors to return to Philippines' restive south

2010-02-22T08:45:10Z

<div><p>A team of international peace monitors will return to the southern Philippines next month amid a fragile ceasefire between the government and Muslim separatists, an official said Thursday.</p><p>The 60 member team will be made up of Organisation of the Islamic Conference (O...

Philippine army presents alleged rebels to court

2010-02-22T09:27:30Z

<div><p>The Philippine military presented 43 people it says are communist rebels to a Manila court Monday for a hearing on allegations the detainees are actually health workers who were falsely charged and tortured in detention.</p><p>The detainees were brought to the Court of Appeals on army buses and handcuffed to military escorts for the hearing, which brings to the fore allegations of military...

Church pews fill as Philippine poll campaign begins

2010-02-22T10:39:16Z

<div><p>MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine politicians launched their campaigns on Tuesday in a wide-open race for the presidency, with poverty, corruption and unemployment the top issues for the impoverished Southeast Asian archipelago.</p><p>Elections in the Philippines are always colorful and typically marked by fraud and vi...

Arrests of 43 suspected Filipino rebels questioned

2010-02-22T10:58:09Z

<div><p>A human rights group protested Sunday the arrests of dozens of suspected communist guerrillas accused of bomb-making near the Philippine capital, saying that those detained were in fact volunteer health workers.</p><p>About 100 army troops and police arrested the 43 men and women in a raid early Saturday of a residential compound in Morong township east of Manila. Military officials said t...

Quality Manila Philippine Hotels

2010-02-22T14:03:21Z

The Philippines is fast becoming a favorable tourist destination because of its fascinating coastal locations. Among other cities in the Philippines, Manila ? its capital, attracts businesses from all parts of the world. It houses hundreds of Philippine hotels that range from budget friendly to luxury.<br><br>The Philippines is becoming one of the most sought after vac...

Philippines Massacre

2010-01-27T03:15:39Z

Suspect Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., center, is escorted by members of the National Bureau of Investigation during the resumption of his murder trial at the heavily guarded police headquarters in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on Wednesday, Jan....

Philippines Farmers Protest

2010-01-22T06:31:10Z

Thousands of protesters, mostly farmers, march towards the historic Mendiola Bridge near the Presidential Palace in Manila, Philippines Friday Jan. 22, 2010 to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the killing of 13 peasants and wounding of several others near the Palace. The protesters in their statement denounced the government of Manila port Sunday Jan.17, 2010 in the Philippines. Authorities reported one was killed and about 4,000 people were rendered homeless in an overnight fire that gutted about 500 homes. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)<...

Religion News in Brief

2010-02-22T21:04:56Z

<div id="subtitle">Religion News in Brief</div><div><p>Seven members of Iran's Baha'i minority are on trial on charges of spying and acting against the country's national security, state media reported.</p><p>According to state TV Web site, the charges against them also include cooperating with archenemy Israel, gathering classifi...

Huge procession prays for disaster-free Philippines: police

2010-02-22T23:00:38Z

<div><p>Hundreds of thousands of people prayed for relief from natural disasters Saturday in a barefoot religious procession across the capital of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines.</p><p>The annual festival centres on a black icon of a cross-bearing Jesus Christ, which many Filipinos believe can perform miracles to cure the sic...