Philippine tribal gunmen kidnap 16

BUTUAN (Philippines) - PHILIPPINE tribal gunmen kidnapped 16 teachers and students, demanding the release of an arrested comrade, police and local officials said on Saturday.

Members of the Manobo tribe led by Reyjoy Brital, abducted the group, including several minors, in the southern island of Mindanao on Friday, a police official and the local mayor said.

Speaking to negotiators through a cellphone, Brital threatened to kill the hostages if a rescue attempt was launched.

'They should behave because if they continue to come into our area we will make an example out of the hostages,' Brital said in the local dialect. -- AFP

Philippines cracks down on Chinese poachers

MANILA - PHILIPPINE authorities on Thursday vowed to seek long jail terms for six Chinese caught poaching fish and sea turtles, as part of a crackdown against foreigners stealing marine wildlife.

The head of a multi-agency taskforce against illegal entrants, Brigadier General Juancho Sabban, said he planned to take a hardline stance against all foreign poachers, unlike previous officials who allowed them to be released.

'We will be pursuing the harshest penalty as demanded by law. We will be fighting for the conviction of these apprehended poachers,' BG Sabban told AFP.

In previous cases of Chinese fishermen caught illegally in Philippine waters, the Chinese embassy often successfully lobbied for the release of its nationals, much to the anger of local environmental groups.

But BG Sabban, who took over in August last year as head of the taskforce that includes the police and military, said he would push hard for the latest batch of nabbed Chinese to be jailed.

'I don't know what happened in previous cases but I would like to assure everybody that we will take action differently,' he said. -- AFP

Philippines to upgrade airstrip on disputed island

MANILA - THE Philippines said on Tuesday it would upgrade a military airfield on an island that is part of a territorial dispute with China, but insisted the work had nothing to do with a recent spike in tensions.

Repairs to the deteriorating runway on Pag-asa, also known as Thitu, in the Spratly archipelago were needed to ensure supplies could continue to be flown to people living there, military spokesman Commodore Mike Rodriguez told AFP.

'It is a restoration job. We are not building anything new. We are repairing the damaged portions,' Mr Rodriguez said.

'We have a municipality there with civilians living on the island. We need to supply them with basic services.'

The 31-million-peso (S$902,000) repair of the runway on Pag-asa, one of the largest of the Spratly islands, is not related to recent tensions between the Philippines and China in the disputed South China Sea, Mr Rodriguez said.

The Philippines and China, along with Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam claim all or part of the Spratlys, which are believed to sit on vast mineral resources. -- AFP

Many Filipinos gamble lives in Libya for jobs

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has made a second trip to strife-torn Libya to convince hundreds of Filipino workers there to leave. Most have chosen to stay. -- PHOTO: AP

MANILA - PHILIPPINE Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has made a second trip to strife-torn Libya to convince hundreds of Filipino workers there to leave. Most have chosen to stay.

The Department of Foreign Affairs says Mr del Rosario escorted 31 Filipinos from the Libyan capital of Tripoli to the border in neighbouring Tunisia on Wednesday.

The department says 1,600 of 2,000 Filipino nurses have decided to stay in Libya along with about 100 Filipino professors.

It says many of the workers prefer to stay in Libya, where they have been promised higher wages amid the violence there, than face unemployment at home.

Mr del Rosario led a risky evacuation of 400 Filipinos from Tripoli last month. -- AP

Quake hits Philippines, no damage expected

Students cover their heads with books during an earthquake drill in Manila. An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.7 shook buildings in Manila. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

MANILA - AN EARTHQUAKE with an estimated magnitude of 5.7 shook buildings in the Philippine capital on Monday, but was not expected to cause any damage, the head of the government's seismology bureau said.

'We don't expect damage despite it being a 5.7 because the earthquake was quite deep,' Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology director Renato Solidum said in an interview with ABS CBN television.

Solidum said the earthquake had been felt across Manila, a sprawling city of more than 12 million people.

The US Geological Survey said on its website the quake had a magnitude of 5.4 and struck 87km south-west of Manila at 6.36pm (6.36 Singapore time).

Philippine authorities have said previously they measure earthquakes differently to the USGS.

People in the Philippines have been nervous about a potential killer quake following the devastating tremors to have hit Japan and New Zealand recently. Like those countries, the Philippines sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire - a belt around the Pacific Ocean dotted by active volcanoes and tectonic trenches. -- AFP

Philippine police: Abu Sayyaf kidnaps 3 fishermen

MANILA - A POLICE official says suspected Abu Sayyaf militants kidnapped the skipper and two other crew members of a fishing boat then called their company to demand ransom, in the latest reminder of the lingering danger of the battle-crippled terrorist group.

Police Director Felicisimo Khu Jr. says the three were fishing with other crew members off southern Sulu province Saturday when Abu Sayyaf gunmen aboard a motor boat approached and abducted them at gunpoint. The militants called the captives' fishing company the next day, apparently to demand ransom.

Mr Khu said Monday that the new kidnappings and a recent deadly bombing in Sulu indicate the danger posed by the militants despite their many battle setbacks and underscore the difficulty of fighting terrorism. --AP

Philippines says no Japan evacuations

MANILA - THE Philippines said on Wednesday it was not planning to evacuate its more than 300,000 citizens in Japan amid the deepening nuclear crisis there.

Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario said those who were concerned about possible radiation exposure would need to leave using their own means.

'There's no mandatory repatriation,' Mr del Rosario told reporters.

Explosions and fire at a Japanese nuclear plant, crippled by a quake and tsunami last Friday, unleashed dangerous levels of radiation this week.

The threat of radiation poisoning triggered moves by foreign governments, including China and Europe, to start evacuating their citizens.

The foreign ministry also issued a statement saying that it would follow Japanese government advice in determining if there was a need to organise a mass evacuation of Filipinos. 'If, as determined by Japanese officials, relocation and repatriation become necessary, the Philippine government will defray the cost to undertake the required measures,' the statement said. -- AFP

Philippine nuclear proponent reverses stand

Philippine scientists using a portable radiation detection machine called a "Surveillance And Measurement System" (SAM 935) monitor radiation levels at the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) headquarters in Manila, as a precautionary measure amidst the danger of a nuclear meltdown in Japan after it was hit by a powerful quake on March 11. -- PHOTO: AFP

MANILA - THE leading proponent of introducing nuclear energy to the Philippines reversed his stand on Monday in the wake of a potential nuclear disaster in quake-hit Japan.

Mark Cojuangco, a cousin of President Benigno Aquino, said there was a need to rethink assumptions that nuclear power was safe following two explosions in three days at Japan's Fukushima plant.

'In the light of Fukushima, I would like to say that now is the opportune time, the right time, for the whole world's nuclear power industry to be in a period of introspection,' Mr Cojuangco said in a statement.

'Meaning, they should examine events like Fukushima and see if all the assumptions of safety of nuclear power are still valid, and if adjustments are to be made, what are they.'

Last year, while he was a member of parliament, Mr Cojuangco lobbied heavily for the reactivation of a mothballed nuclear energy plant as a means to address the Philippines' perennial power outages.

He had authored a bill proposing the funding of a feasibility study to revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) which remains pending in the House of Representatives. -- AFP

Fire kills 2 doctors, 4 others in Philippines home

MANILA - FIREFIGHTERS say a fire razed a home in Manila, killing a family of four and their two helpers.

Fire officer Albert Flores said the victims were two medical doctors who owned the house, their daughters, aged 17 and 21, and two people who worked for the family.

The bodies of the six were found huddled in a room on the second floor of the house, some locked in embrace. They apparently died of suffocation.

Flores said the fire broke out before dawn Monday in the ground-floor garage. The family may have woken up too late to escape, or been prevented from doing so by metal grills on the windows.

The cause of the fire is being investigated. -- AP

1 miner dead, 5 rescued in Philippine landslide

MANILA - POLICE say a gold miner has been killed and five others dug up alive by fellow miners after their hut got buried by a landslide in a remote mountain town in the southern Philippines.

Compostela Valley provincial police chief Aaron Aquino says days of pounding rain set off the landslide that buried the hut in which the six miners were resting on Friday in Pantukan town.

Aquino said Sunday it was not immediately clear if the victims were among the many illegal miners operating in the vast mountainous region.

Police have been trying to enforce a crackdown against illegal mining despite the danger posed by communist guerrillas and difficult terrain.

Compostela Valley lies about 600 miles (900 kilometres) south-east of Manila. -- AP

Waves cause no damage in the Philippines, Indonesia

MANILA - SMALL tsunami waves hit the Philippines hours after a massive quake struck Japan on Friday, but there were no reports of local damage or casualties, its chief state seismologist said.

'This looks like good news,' Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology director Renato Solidum told a news conference after reporting waves ranging from 30cm to one metre.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian meteorology and geophysics agency said that the tsunami reached Indonesia's eastern coastline without causing any damage.

'A tsunami of only 10cm triggered by the earthquake in Japan was detected in the North Sulawesi and Maluku islands,' the agency's official Rachmat told AFP.

'We have just lifted the tsunami alert in Indonesia.'

At least 60 people were killed and 56 missing in the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on Friday, unleashing huge tsunamis along its Pacific coast, police said. -- AFP

55,000 in Philippines go home after tsunami alert

MANILA - MORE than 55,000 people were returning to their homes all along the eastern coast of the Philippines on Saturday as the threat of a tsunami from Japan's devastating quake subsided, officials said.

The government ordered the country's Pacific seaboard cleared of people on Friday as a magnitude 8.9 quake unleashed tsunamis on Japan's east coast and triggered a Pacific-wide alert.

National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council executive director Benito Ramos said residents were allowed to return home after spending the night at temporary shelters inland, but advised them to avoid the water.

'The current trend of observed wave heights suggests that the threat of a hazardous tsunami has passed,' he said in a statement.

The council said 55,335 people were moved off the coasts overnight as a precaution.

Small tsunami waves struck the country in early evening, but caused no damage or casualties. -- AFP

Taiwan, Philippine spat over China deportations ends

TAIPEI - TAIWAN said it would immediately lift restrictions on Philippine workers imposed after a row over the deportation of 14 Taiwanese to mainland China, ending a dispute that threatened thousands of jobs.

Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a statement that the Philippine government's decision on Wednesday to replace its acting head of immigration showed a deep regret on the country's part over the incident and goodwill towards Taiwan.

In Manila, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, however, said that the change of immigration chief did not have any connection with the deportation case.

'It was never in response to or in a way of appeasing the Taiwanese officials or the Taiwan government on what happened during the recent deportation incident. It is not related to that,' Mr Lacierda told a news conference.

The row blew up last month after the Philippines sent the 14, who were facing fraud charges in a case that also involved mainland Chinese nationals, to Taiwan's political rival China.

Taiwan said they should have been returned to the island and demanded an apology. Talks last month that lasted 11 hours between a special emissary of the Philippines and Taiwan officials failed to produce a result. -- REUTERS

Philippines secures survey ship in row with China

MANILA - THE Philippine coast guard says it has deployed three vessels to secure a government oil survey ship that reported being harrased by two Chinese patrol boats near a disputed area of the South China Sea.

Coast guard chief Adm Wilfredo Tamayo said on Saturday that two vessels with divers and medics on board and a surveillance vessel have been sent to patrol waters off the south-western province of Palawan and assist the government-contracted ship on a seismic survey in the strategic area.

The Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest with China and demanded an explanation for the incident on Wednesday near the disputed Spratly Islands that are claimed by the Philippines, China and other nations. -- AP

Philippines disposes of Cold War-era US bombs

MANILA - PHILIPPINE President Benigno Aquino said on Saturday the government had completed the safe detonation of some 181 tonnes of Cold War-era bombs left by US forces formerly stationed in the country.

He said some 181 tonnes of munitions, including anti-submarine depth charges, had been safely disposed of in an operation lasting several weeks.

'Imagine, that was just a portion!' he told reporters after witnessing the safe detonation of the remaining five tonnes from the cache at Crow Valley, a former gunnery range of US forces previously stationed at Clark Air Base.

'This was really one of my first nightmares upon assuming office' in June last year.

Mr Aquino said some of the bombs dated to 1947 and were previously stored at Caballo, a tiny island at the mouth of Manila Bay.

US forces handed over Clark, Subic Naval Base and several smaller facilities to Manila in 1992, a year after the Philippine senate refused to ratify a new bases treaty between the two allies. -- AFP

5 wounded in bomb blast in southern Philippines

MANILA (Philippines) - POLICE say a bomb has exploded on a southern Philippine highway as a passenger bus was driving by, wounding two civilians on board and three government militiamen on the road.

Senior Supt. Marcelo Pintac says it is not clear if Thursday morning's blast in southern Maguindanao province's Pandag township was targeting the bus or the militiamen guarding a nearby military detachment.

He says the wounded are all in stable condition and their statements are being gathered. Soldiers and police have not yet identified the type of bomb used nor pinpointed motives and suspects.

The volatile province is home to Muslim rebels, extortion gangs and a powerful clan blamed for the 2009 massacre of at least 57 people. -- AP

Philippines marks 25 years since 'People Power'

Soldiers on top of an armoured personnel carrier handout rosary at the People Power monument during the 25th People Power revolution anniversary in Manila on Friday. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

MANILA - PHILIPPINE President Benigno Aquino III said on Friday that the struggle for good governance and the fight against the corruption that characterized the brutal regime of Ferdinand Marcos continues 25 years after the late dictator's ouster in the 'People Power' revolution.

In a speech to mark the four-day revolt in 1986 that restored democracy and ended Marcos' 20-year regime, Mr Aquino recalled that Marcos ruled with an iron fist as he enriched his family and associates amid the nation's poverty.

Marcos died in exile in Hawaii three years after his ouster.

Poverty, corruption and insurgency are still major problems in the Philippines.

Mr Aquino said the revolt raised hopes that democracy would also bring prosperity and a government that would safeguard the people's money, but said that did not happen in the decade under his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

'There were some who betrayed the public trust and raided government coffers,' he said. 'With good governance to fight corruption, we can free our people from poverty.' -- AP

Philippine military probes Facebook abuse video

MANILA - THE Philippine military said on Saturday they are investigating a purported torture video posted on Facebook that appears to show uniformed soldiers abusing defenceless prisoners.

Investigators are checking the identities of the uniformed men shown repeatedly hitting and kicking a group of at least three people in civilian clothes, said military spokesman Brigadier General Jose Mabanta.

'We are the first to be concerned about this. We have said we will not do these (abuses), then we see it right in our faces,' Gen Mabanta told AFP.

Officials also want to know when and where it happened, if indeed it actually happened, Gen Mabanta said.

The poor-quality footage shows the men lying on the ground of a coconut plantation. The captives' hands are tied behind their backs and hoods placed over their heads while men in military-style uniforms shout at and swear at them.

Colonel Domingo Tutaan, head of the military's human rights office, said the military would also try to find out what happened to the supposed victims. -- AFP

Philippine quake frightens resort city

BAGUIO - HUNDREDS of people fled into streets when a moderate earthquake struck the Philippine resort city of Baguio on Friday, witnesses said, though there were no casualties nor damage.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake had a magnitude of 5.0 and was only 14km deep.

With an epicentre just outside Baguio it set objects moving, terrifying residents who still remember a 1990 tremor that killed several hundred people.

Residents rushed out of their houses until after the shaking stopped, an AFP reporter on the scene said.

Afterwards many remained fearful until Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan made a radio broadcast saying that the quake caused no damage and that government seismologists said no aftershocks were expected.

The US Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 4.7 with a depth of 52.8km. -- AFP

10,000 lose homes in Philippines slum fire

A Filipino resident watches while his house burns during a fire that killed at least one boy at a slum area in suburban Quezon City. -- PHOTO: AP

MANILA - AROUND 10,000 people lost their homes and one child was killed when a fire swept through one of the Philippines' largest shantytowns in Manila on Tuesday, an arson investigator said.

The authorities had yet to determine the cause of the blaze that destroyed about 500 houses in the Bahay Toro slum, fire inspector Catherine Albino said.

A five-year-old boy was killed, six other people were injured and about 2,000 families were left homeless, she added. Firemen battled for more than three hours before the blaze was brought under control.

Albino said a Bahay Toro family averaged five members and several families usually shared one dwelling.

Slum fires are a frequent hazard in the Philippine capital of 12 million people, she said, citing another blaze two kilometres away from Bahay Toro a week before that razed 600 shanties and left 20,000 people homeless. -- AFP