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President Benigno Aquino threatened Thursday to withdraw Philippine troops from the UN peacekeeping force on the Golan Heights unless they receive anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, and are protected against chemical arms. Aquino said the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), now made up of just over 500 Filipino and Indian troops, needed revised rules of engagement as Syria's civil war heats up. Manila pledged on Wednesday to keep its troops in the volatile strip of land between Syria and Israel until at least August 3, but said their continued presence would depend on the UN beefing up security. ... The Philippines...

SNIPPET: "New York City is the center of a public uproar as Internet blogger Pamela Gellar rises with an “anti-jihad” ad campaign." SNIPPET: "Gellar and her group are protesting the Jihad, which in definition is the religious duty of Muslims. According to the Dictionary of Islam, jihad is defined as “A religious war with those who are unbelievers in the mission of Muhammad . . . enjoined especially for the purpose of advancing Islam and repelling evil from Muslims.” The literal meaning of jihad, according to the British Broadcasting Network, “is struggle or effort, and it means much more than...

News Video: Catholic News Roundup 08-28-12

(Reuters) - In the Philippines, they vote with their trigger fingers. Elections mean big business for illegal gunsmiths, who are looking forward to 2013 mid-term polls. With election-related violence commonplace, the Philippines imposes a ban on the carrying of guns for six months, from campaigning to the proclamation of winners. With legal access denied, Filipinos simply turn to the many illegal gunsmiths who ply their trade in back alleys and on the edge of rice fields despite government crackdowns. -----------------------------cut--------------------- According to www.gunpolicy.org, a site hosted by the University of Sydney's School of Public Health in Australia, there are about...

Lolong beats previous record-holder by more than two feet.Lolong has hit the big time—at 20.24 feet (6.17 meters) long, the saltwater crocodile is officially the largest in captivity, the Guinness World Records announced recently. Suspected of attacking several people and killing two, the giant reptile was captured alive in the Philippines' Bunawan township (map) last September. (See pictures of Lolong's capture.) The Guinness listing is based on data by experts including crocodile zoologist Adam Britton, who measured the beast in his home, the new Bunawan Eco-Park and Research Centre. (Read more about Lolong's Guinness World Record listing.) Initially wary of...

With the U.S. moving the majority of its naval fleet to the Pacific, commanders are eagerly looking for invitations to park the planes and ships that will be pouring into the region. Travis Tritten at Stars and Stripes reports that the Pentagon has apparently been fanning the old flame of friendship with the Philippines and will be re-opening two bases it left in 1991 — Subic Bay and Clark Air Base. The U.S. had a falling out with the island nation in the early nineties and pulled out of the bases, which were then built-up by a series of private...

Since mid April Chinese naval vessels have been circling a pile of rocks situated 124 miles off the coast of the Philippines that barely qualifies as an “island”. The rocks are called the Scarborough Shoal and save for there position, and rumors of oil and gas under them, they have no value to anyone. Nevertheless it is precisely because they are so far from their own shore that the Chinese are trying to pressure the Filipinos into relinquishing their long held claim (since 1734) to Panatag as they call them. Moreover since the Scarborough Shoal at just 124 miles off...

A PUBLISHER and radio commentator, Christopher Guarin in General Santos City, is the latest murder victim. He was shot a few days ago in his car while driving his family home after his radio program. He managed to jump out after the first volley but he was finished off when they caught up with him. He is 2012's first media man to die violently. Whether he was murdered because he was a media practitioner or a businessman, is still an issue now. This brings back to public debate the need to allow media men as a policy to bear arms...

MANILA, Philippines - Firearms, the “last line of defense” in home protection and self-defense, can kill or seriously injure. As such, gun owners should treat it with care and constant vigilance to ensure personal safety and the safety of others. And when time does come for one to draw his gun against an attacker, it is imperative he fully knows the weapon and how to properly use it. Such was the main thrust of discussion when members of Stronghand One Gun Club and guests gathered for their first general assembly at the Stronghand Shooting Range in Quezon City. Samson Macariola,...

[Manila] Moslem extremists have burnt down a Christian village in the vicinity of the city of Mang (Mindanao). According to current information there have been no dead. The entire population must in any case leave their homes and is homeless. Sources at the Philippine Army have laid the blame upon Ameril Umbra Kato, the earlier Chief of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). He is building up a new army for the battle to promote the islamic State of Mindanao.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has granted the gun ban application of former United States President William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton. The Manila Times was able to obtain a one-page certificate of authority issued by the Comelec where the Committee on the Ban on Firearms and Security Personnel (CBFSP) for the October 25, 2010 Barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) elections, chaired by poll body Commissioner Lucenito Tagle, granted the gun ban exemption to a large number of Clinton’s security personnel from the US Protective Service Agents. Clinton, the 42nd president of the US, will be in the Philippines on...

MANILA, Philippines—The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Wednesday reminded President Aquino III that providing contraceptives to poor couples who opt for artificial birth control face excommunication from the church.Speaking on the Church-run Radio Veritas, Bishop Nereo Odchimar of Tandag, Surigao del Sur, the current CBCP president, said that even Mr. Aquino may be covered by excommunication. Mr. Aquino, a practicing Catholic, has stood by his position that Filipino couples who choose to use artificial contraceptives should be allowed to do so."Well, being the President of all, you must consider the position of the Catholic Church...

St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions (1600?-1637) Lawrence (Lorenzo) was born in Manila of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, both Christians. Thus he learned Chinese and Tagalog from them and Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served as altar boy and sacristan. He became a professional calligrapher, transcribing documents in beautiful penmanship. He was a full member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary under Dominican auspices. He married and had two sons and a daughter. His life took an abrupt turn when he was accused of murder. Nothing further is known except the statement of two Dominicans that...

MANILA, Philippines—A lawmaker has opposed a plan of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to extend the total gun ban coverage beyond the end of the election period, saying that he will introduce a bill that would ensure the right of individuals to carry firearms. Nueva Ecija Representative Rodolfo Antonino said the PNP could not just opt to extend the gun ban after granting firearm licenses and permits to carry to gun owners. The gun ban ends on June 9. Antonino, chairman of the House committee on public order and safety, said there was no provision in the law barring Filipino...

MANILA, Philippines—A group of gun enthusiasts is countering police calls for an extension of the election gun ban with its own call for laws liberalizing gun ownership. The Gun Enthusiasts Confederation of the Philippines (GECP) argued that loosening restrictions on firearms ownership would, in fact, deter violence. GECP president Perry Punla said the group’s “total pro-gun” proposal would prevent rather than spur inappropriate gun use because gun owners would be held liable in court. Punla also called for simplified regulations on gun ownership. He said a gun owner’s license should likewise be recognized as a permit to bear arms, doing...

Sister Mary Beata Mackie on the way to the Philippines in 1937. Sixty-five years ago today, U.S. Marines iconically raised the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. And 65 years ago today, hundreds of miles to the south, my aunt walked to freedom. Sister Mary Beata Mackie spent over three years in a Japanese internment camp in the Philippines during World War II. Like most of the more than 2,100 others in the camp, she was malnourished and emaciated in the end. Sister Mary Beata was one of 53 Maryknoll Missionary Sisters caught in the...

With the Vatican's Year for Priests now past its halfway point, it's been widely noted that this week's seeing a pretty exceptional gathering in the Philippines: some 5,500 priests -- three-quarters of the national presbyterate -- spending the week on group retreat (above) in Manila. Sometime today, one of the week's high points is expected to take place -- a mass reconciliation rite, with individual confessions: Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, spokesman for the [Filipino] bishops, said that, while priests lining up before a confessional box is not a common sight, they were also humans and not without sin. "It's the...

I'll be on hiatus into July after this. So I looked for some waterfall pictures as a send-off. Waterfall in the Caucasus Mountains (Chegem Gorge). Click for full-size. Katibawasan Falls, Phillipines (click for full size) El Chorro waterfalls, El Salvador

MANILA, Philippines - First, Teri Hatcher questioned the medical certificates of Filipino doctors. Then, British show Harry & Paul ridiculed a Filipina maid as a sex symbol. And just recently, Chinese columnist Chip Tsao called the Philippines a nation of slaves. Now, it’s 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin's turn, joining the ranks of "internationally-recognized" celebrities who have maligned Filipinos, according to critics. Baldwin – a divorced father of a 13-year-old girl – told David Letterman in one of his last interviews on the Late Show, how he taught of getting, or buying, himself a Filipina bride. “I think about getting...

(UPDATE) ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - One of two foreign Red Cross workers being held captive by Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the southern Philippine province of Sulu was rescued early Saturday, official said. Swiss Andreas Notter was rescued by police and civilian auxiliaries early Saturday as his captors tried to spirit him out of a police cordon at around 5.30 a.m. in Indanan town, said Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, confirming earlier reports attributed to unnamed police officials. The Abu Sayyaf is still holding Italian Eugenio Vagni, but he was not with the group that held Notter, said the official, who asked...