Regional Philippines News

Aug 192013
 
Philippine floods kill three, paralyse capital

At least three people have died in the Philippines after torrential rain engulfed parts of the main island of Luzon including Manila where neck-deep water swept through homes forcing thousands into emergency shelters. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said mountainous areas to the north of the island were experiencing floods of 1.8 metres (six feet), following persistent rain that began at the weekend. One person was killed in a storm-related car accident in the northern Apayao mountain region while a child was crushed by a collapsing wall and a man drowned in towns just outside the capital. Four other people are missing including three washed away by floods and overflowing rivers and a local female tourist who got lost while exploring a cave in the northern resort town of Sagada. In the capital Manila, a megacity of 12 million people, schools, government offices and the stock exchange were closed as a red alert was raised in the morning — the highest level of a warning system in which widespread floods are predicted. “We are trying to save whatever we can. But it was so sudden,” J.R Pascual, a father-of-four, told AFP as he tried to take the most important possessions from his home that was flooded up to his waist. “My neighbour wasn’t even able to get his car out.” Pascual lives in a middle-class district of Cavite, a coastal area that is about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the heart of Manila. Roads from Cavite and Read More …

Jul 272013
 
Doctors among dead in Philippines restaurant blast

Six people were killed and at least 48 wounded in the Philippines when a bomb struck a restaurant filled with doctors after a national convention, police said Saturday. Police said the improvised explosive device went off around midnight (1600 GMT Friday) at a popular restaurant in the southern port city of Cagayan de Oro. Most of the victims were doctors and pharmaceutical salesmen who had just attended a national convention of lung-disease specialists at a nearby hotel, said the city police chief, Senior Superintendent Graciano Mijares. “This is one of the busiest areas of Cagayan de Oro…. somebody left a bomb on a chair at the bistro,” he told reporters. He declined to speculate on the motive for the bombing, saying an investigation was under way. Cagayan de Oro is located on the main southern island of Mindanao, which has been blighted by a decades-old rebellion by elements of the large Muslim minority in the mainly Catholic Asian nation. Witnesses at the scene described horrific scenes, with the top of the head of one victim blown off and the torso of another hanging limply on a chair as police sifted through the debris for evidence. Local businessman Noel Arcenas, who owns an electronics shop at the shopping complex where the restaurant is located, said at least 100 people were inside the bistro when the explosion occurred. “I felt then heard the blast,” said Arcenas, who added he was standing about 15 metres (49 feet) away. “I looked around and saw Read More …

Jul 162013
 
11 hostages freed in Philippine Muslim clan feud

Seven children and four other hostages caught up in a decades-old southern Philippines clan war have been freed in a straight swap by the feuding families, the military said Tuesday. The hostages, aged as young as two, were snatched last week in tit-for-tat kidnappings on the remote southern island of Basilan, a hotbed of Muslim guerrillas and other militants that the government does not fully control. The crisis ended when a Muslim clan leader known as “Commander Hassan” agreed to release his eight hostages on Monday, said Lieutenant-Colonel Paolo Perez, commander of an army battalion stationed on Basilan. A rival Muslim clan leader known in the area as “Jiabrin” had freed Commander Hassan’s three daughters late on Sunday, according to Perez, who said the clan dispute had been going on for the past 30 years. “The feud ranges from previous disputes over property, aggravated by killings on both sides,” said Perez, who took part in the negotiations that led to the release of the hostages including the seven children aged between two and 14. About 20 people are believed to have died in battles between the clans over the years, a regional military spokesman said last week. Hassan is a member of the Moro National Liberation Front, a former Muslim separatist rebel group, while Jiabrin is a member of the rival Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the military said. Authorities will not seek to lay charges against those involved in the kidnappings, according to Colonel Carlito Galvez, a local military commander Read More …

May 282013
 
Taiwan scraps basketball invite to Philippines amid row

Our govt should pull-out all the OFWs in Taiwan… move them to Malaysia or any other country. Let’s see whose e****my will collapse… our govt should provide them (OFWs) with livelihood programs, train them through TESDA… And let’s not send OFWs to both China and Taiwan… those countries are the worst criminal on earth… especially in Piracy. US govt are so dumb and stupid they invested in China, due to low manpower cost. Now, China are stealing all those technology from them through reverse engineering. And they became a military superpower. I just saw on TV how the Chinese were able to steal even the US fighter planes technology and they were able to copy the US’s war planes. China will beat the US not in WAR, but on e****mic warfare… they have all the US monetary (money) stashed in their country. And they are tra****ing Euro money not US dollar. I****S will start to make threats against them, they will release all the US dollar and it will dropped the value o****S dollar into nothing (like a bank-run). The US knows it, that’s why they are so scared sh*t of China.