MANILA, Philippines – Philippine police have entered a bus after shots were heard from the hostage-taker of 15 Chinese tourists, and at least four of the hostages crawled out of the back door.

There was no immediate confirmation of any casualties in the daylong standoff in downtown Manila late Monday.

Earlier, police officer Roderick Mariano cited the Filipino driver who escaped moments before police surrounded the bus as saying the hostage-taker, a dismissed policeman armed with an M16 rifle, had opened fire at the tourists.  Read the rest of story here…

MANILA, Philippines—Even the dawn of new technology could not silence the guns and bombs in Philippine elections.

Shootings and explosions on the eve of and during Monday’s historic elections showed that nothing much had changed as a nation weary of political bloodbaths pinned its hopes on computerized balloting.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) placed Monday’s death toll at 11 as of Monday night.

But according to Inquirer reports, at least 18 people have been killed in election-related violence since Sunday: Eight in Mindanao, five in Luzon, and five in the Visayas.  Read the whole story.

Manila, Philippines, Apr 15, 2010 / 03:01 am (CNA).- Abu Sayyaf militants conducted a bombing assault on Isabela City in the Philippines on Tuesday morning, killing several people and severely damaging the Cathedral of St. Isabel. The local bishop said the cathedral was “totally” damaged.

At least 25 militants with the Al Qaeda-linked group, dressed in police and camouflaged military uniforms, set off two bombs that blew up a van and damaged the 40-year-old cathedral. A third bomb placed near a judge’s house and a bus terminal was safely detonated by soldiers. Read the whole story.

In July of 2009, the cathedral in Cotabato City was bombed by Muslim terrorists during mass. We were able to send some financial aid to the families of the victims.

At least 11 people, including a one-year-old baby, were killed and several others were hurt when an armed group believed to be composed of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Abu Sayyaf bandits stormed a village in Maluso town in Basilan on Saturday morning, a police official said.

Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police chief, said the attack happened at about 5:45 a.m. in Barangay (village) Tubigan, Maluso – a fourth class municipality in the southern Philippine island province.  Read the rest of the story.

DAVAO CITY – (UPDATE 3) At least four soldiers, including a junior officer, were killed when communist rebels set off a landmine in Veruela, Agusan del Sur, the military said Thursday.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command based here, said three other government troopers and a 10-year old girl were wounded in the incident, which took place in Barangay (village) La Fortuna around 6 p.m., and the clash that ensued between soldiers and New People’s Army rebels…  Read the whole story.

FRONT ROYAL— International Pro-Life leaders from Africa, Europe, South America, Asia and Oceania have come to the nation’s capitol to stand in solidarity with their American brothers and sisters and protest the radical expansion of anti-life policies under the Obama administration. They will speak at a conference on January 22 at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C. before joining the hundreds of thousands of other pro-lifers in the March for Life.

“America’s March for Life is now the world’s March for Life,” said Joseph Meaney, Director of International Coordination for Human Life International (HLI). “It has become the world’s pro-life protest because of the aggressive promotion of abortion and population control that is now official policy of the United States, thanks to the administration of President Barack Obama.”

“This is not only the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which has led to the destruction of almost 50 million American children,” said Dr. Ligaya Acosta, HLI Regional Coordinator for Asia and Oceania. “This is now the anniversary of President Obama’s allowing Americans’ taxpayer funds to be used to promote abortion and other assaults on life in my own country of the Philippines, in Africa, in China… all over the world where 40 million babies are killed every year. It is wrong and we are here to tell him and Congress to stop paying to kill our children!”

Dr. Acosta was referring to President Obama’s January 23^rd, 2009 reversal of the Mexico City Policy, which had, under the Reagan and both Bush administrations, restricted the use of federal funds to support any organization that promoted or performed abortion abroad. In December, this reversal allowed Congress to pass an omnibus spending bill, signed by President Obama, which included almost $ 700 million for abortion-promoting organizations internationally.

“We are tired of the arrogant American government trying to tell us how many children we should have,” said Emil Hagamu, HLI’s regional coordinator for English-speaking Africa. “President Obama is of Kenyan descent. How can he do this to his own people?”

“These aggressive policies are undeniably hurting America’s stature with the people of the world, even if they help America appeal to the cruel international elites who want to run everything,” said Raymond DeSouza, HLI’s coordinator for Portuguese-speaking nations. “When international aid is tied to abortion, it’s like holding a nation hostage, telling them that children are bad, which translates into hopelessness for the future. This is a terrible violence against the families and children of the developing world.”

For the second time in three months, a grenade has exploded at the cathedral of the Vicariate Apostolic of Jolo in the southern Philippines. No one was injured in the blast, which took place before the first Sunday morning Mass, though some of the cathedral windows were shattered.

Catholic Culture has the rest of the story.