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CUTUD, ANGELES CITY - Dozens of Catholic devotees were nailed to crosses, scores more whipped their backs and others chanted the Passion of Jesus Christ as Filipinos mixed faith and gory ritual on Good Friday. Frowned on by church authorities, the voluntary crucifixions in villages north of the capital Manila are one of the most extreme displays of religious devotion in Asia's largest Roman Catholic state. Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, spokesman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said the church discourages such rituals because the penitents were expecting rewards for hurting themselves. "We only encourage the faithfuls to fast,...

Filipino teachers exchange homeland for jobs in America More than 100 school districts, including at least 20 in California, are recruiting in the Philippines to fill teacher shortages in math, science and special education. By Teresa Watanabe March 18, 2009 Filipino exchange teacher Ferdinand Nakila landed in Los Angeles expecting "Pretty Woman" scenes of swank Beverly Hills boulevards and glittering celebrities. What he got was Inglewood, where he stayed for two weeks in temporary housing and encountered drunkards, beggars, trash-filled streets and nightly police sirens. It got worse. In training sessions about American classrooms he received in the Philippines, he...

Muslim rebel attack kills 11 in southern Philippines [Oct. 2, 2008] Eight Muslim rebels and three soldiers have been killed in the latest outbreak of fighting in the troubled southern Philippines, a military official said. Guerrillas of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fired on an army patrol in Datu Piang town in the island of Mindanao yesterday, killing the three soldiers and wounding 12, local army commander Colonel Marlou Salazar said. Military reinforcements backed by armoured vehicles arrived later, prompting the rebels to flee using civilians as cover, he added. The bodies of eight rebels were recovered from...

Manila, Aug 5, 2008 / 12:28 am (CNA).- Thousands of Catholics in two southern Philippines cities on Monday demonstrated against a government agreement granting Muslims more territory and political and economic powers. One critic characterized the deal as the building of a “Berlin Wall” in the country and another called it a “virtual declaration” of a new state.Church bells rung and businesses closed for the protest in the mainly Catholic city of Zamboanga, Reuters says. About 10,000 people, many wearing red shirts to show their opposition, gathered at a demonstration where a Catholic archbishop and a local tribal leader...

Manila, May 6, 2008 / 04:03 am (CNA).- Archbishop of Manila Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales has forbidden cross-dressing homosexuals from dressing up as female saints in religious processions, calling the actions an “insult to the Blessed Mother.” Every May, Catholics throughout the Philippines hold a “Santacruzan” flower festival in honor of the Virgin Mary.Speaking to the church-run Radio Veritas on Monday, Cardinal Rosales said the cross-dressing was “horrendous” and “defeats the real purpose” of the procession.  He said that the Catholic faithful should keep religious festivals sacred and solemn at all times."Gays should not be allowed to participate in Santacruzan since...

Elephants thought extinct may have survived Pygmy elephant with radio collar. Credit: Cede Prudente The Borneo pygmy elephant may not be native to the island of Borneo after all. Instead, the population could be the last survivors of the Javan elephant race – accidentally saved from extinction by the Sultan of Sulu centuries ago, suggests an article co-authored by World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The origins of the pygmy elephants, found only on the northeast tip of the island in part of the Heart of Borneo, have long been shrouded in mystery. Their looks and behavior differ from other Asian...

The Philippine government is drafting a constitutional amendment that would authorize the establishment of a federal homeland for Muslims in the south of the country. The proposed amendment is part of a complex peace process between the government and a major Muslim rebel group. Douglas Bakshian reports from Manila. Last November, an important agreement was reached between the Philippine government and the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The two sides agreed on the size of a proposed homeland for the country's Muslims in the south of the country. This definition of what is called "the territory" is part of...

MANILA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- An animal rights group on Thursday blamed the Philippine customs for ruining their protest by confiscating inflatable sex dolls they planned to use for a global campaign against fowl cruelty. "The dolls were seized by customs officials when they arrived in the Philippines via U.S.-based package carrier UPS," the Hong Kong-based group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said in a statement released by its Manila office. PETA said it was hoping to use the sex dolls in its campaign against Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) for abuses of chickens. "The sex dolls would...

DATU BLAH SINSUAT, Philippines (Reuters) - When Christians in the southern Philippines heard that the government and Islamic rebels had agreed to expand a homeland for Muslims on their island, they panicked. "We started buying some weapons to defend our families and community," said Berting, a coconut farmer, whose farm sits in the heart of a mainly Muslim province in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Berting, who declined to give his last name, is a Catholic whose grandfather settled in the area nearly 80 years ago when Christian farmers moved to the lush jungles and valleys of mostly Muslim...

A group of lay Catholics are promoting natural family planning methods among the Philippine Muslim community to control the rising population without going against the beliefs held by the two religions. The group began its campaign in Maguindanao, southern Mindanao province, where the percentage of Muslims reaches 90 percent.     From there, the group hopes to carry its work to the rest of the country to tackle the problem of birth control without relying on artificial methods, AsiaNews reported Thursday.     The well known and much appreciated method, known as the "Billings ovulation method," is based on analysis of the female ovulation...

Is the United States out of the intervention business for a while? With two difficult wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a divided public, the conventional answer is that it will be a long time before any American president, Democrat or Republican, again dispatches troops into conflict overseas. As usual, though, the conventional wisdom is almost certainly wrong. Throughout its history, America has frequently used force on behalf of principles and tangible interests, and that is not likely to change. Despite the problems and setbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, America remains the world's dominant military power, spends half a trillion...

A former FBI intelligence analyst who worked under two vice presidents could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison Wednesday for passing secret U.S. documents in a plot to topple the Philippine government. Leandro Aragoncillo, 48, who worked as a military aide to vice presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney before joining the FBI as a civilian employee at Fort Monmouth, pleaded in 2006 to four charges. The most serious charge, conspiracy to transmit national defense information, can carry the death penalty, but under his plea agreement, Aragoncillo instead faces 15 to 20 years in prison. A co-conspirator,...

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," June 8, 2007,... SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: We go live now to the Philippines, where our own FOX News Channel's Colonel Oliver North is covering a major counter terror operation with a joint Philippine strike force and U.S. Special Op advisors on the hunt for the Islamic terror group .Colonel, what's happening?OLIVER NORTH, HOST, "WAR STORIES": Sean, today we went with U.S. Special Operations troops and Philippine troops to the scene of two recent battles with and rogue Moro National Liberation Front terrorists.For years, Islamic radicals have used this dense, triple canopy...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Gunmen abducted an Italian Roman Catholic priest who was on his way to a remote village to celebrate Sunday Mass in the southern Philippines, police said. Giancarlo Bossi, 57, was riding his motorcycle in Zamboanga Sibugay province's Payao township, about 500 miles south of Manila, when about 10 armed men blocked his path then seized him, said Senior Superintendent Francisco Cristobal, the provincial police chief. Cristobal said he suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels who operate in Zamboanga Sibugay, despite a cease-fire agreement with the government. He did not elaborate, but said that al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf...

PHILIPPINESFirst Mangyan priest ordained in the countrySantosh DigalA member of one of the oldest indigenous groupings in the country becomes a priest in a ceremony that draws thousands of faithful. The next day, the newly-ordained Father Oybad returned to his mountain community to celebrate. Calapan City (AsiaNews) – The first ethnic Magyan priest was ordained on April 17 in a ceremony that brought together many faithful. The new priest comes from one of the most ancient and least known indigenous groupings of the country.Although he had wanted a simple affair, Hanunuo Mangyan Gabayno Calinog Oybad’s entry into the priesthood was...

Globally, remittances make up about $230bn Money sent home by Filipinos working overseas last year totalled a record $12.8bn (£6.5bn), the Philippines' central bank has said.The remittances - a 20% rise on 2005 - account for about 10% of the country's economy, the bank added. Most of the eight million overseas workers are in the US or Middle East. According to the World Bank, the Philippines is the fifth-largest recipient of foreign remittances behind India, China, Mexico and France. It has forecast that Filipinos will send home about $14.1bn this year. Their remittances play an increasingly significant role in...

Separated by more than 7,000 miles, two different generations and two very different wars, a California Army National Guardsman in Baghdad wants to help bring Ben Waldron's World War II journal back home. The journal, rough-hewn and gray, was stolen Jan. 26, along with jewelry and cash from the Waldron home in Orangevale. In Baghdad, Lt. Col. Robert Spano, part of an engineering brigade from Sacramento, learned of the theft from a Bee story online. He felt an instant kinship -- he, too, is keeping a wartime journal -- and a duty to help. Spano is offering a $1,000 reward...

Happy Simbang Gabi to all. OK, be honest -- how many are scratching their heads? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but those who fail today's Wide World of Catholicism pop quiz. However, fret not. It's a big church, it happens -- and while it's no easy task serving as the cheat sheet, somebody's gotta do it. In that vein, today's the fifth day of the traditional novena of pre-dawn Masses that are a revered (not to mention numerically huge) tradition in the Philippines. And where the Filipino community goes, the tradition comes along, packing parishes and...

Terror threat shuts down Asian summit: Philippine sources CEBU, Philippines (AFP) - The Philippines abruptly called off a high-profile summit of Asian leaders, blaming a looming tropical storm even as foreign ministry sources said terror threats were the reason. The cancellation came a day after six nations including the United States issued a warning for Cebu, the resort island hosting the summit, due to threats of a terrorist strike. Australia said attack plans were in the "final stages." Foreign ministers from across Asia and other top diplomats were racing late Friday to sign a series of planned agreements before leaving...

(Compiled by BangkokPost.com) Manila Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez has threatened to feed to the sharks both local and foreign activists who even think of disrupting next month’s Southeast Asian summit. The Summit of Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is to be held in the central city of Cebu on Dec 11-13. Allies such as Australia will also be at the meeting. The summit is likely to advance to 2015 the target date for integrating the region into a European Union-style market. The Philippines media quoted Mr Gonzalez over the weekend as saying he had received intelligence reports...