'I Received the News of Corazon Aquino's Death With Great Sadness'

Oops. Just one problem. Corazon Aquino isn't dead.

BRITAIN was forced to retract a statement of condolence for former Philippines president Corazon Aquino, following false reports that the ailing 76-year-old had died.

Ms Aquino, who is suffering from colon cancer, is in hospital in "serious condition", her spokeswoman Lourdes Siytangco said, refuting the rumours that had quickly spread through the Philippines.

The statement from the British embassy in Manila quoted outgoing junior Foreign Office minister Lord Mark Malloch Brown as saying: "I received the news of Corazon Aquino's death with great sadness."

Malloch Brown, who advised Ms Aquino during her campaign for office, said working with her was "one of my life's greatest lessons in courage, leadership, the art of politics and humanity".

British Ambassador Peter Beckingham also praised Ms Aquino's "grace, charisma and compassion. The Philippines has lost a wonderful leader who is widely admired in Britain for her courage and inspiration".

But less than an hour later, the embassy withdraw the statement, saying: "Our deepest apologies, it appears the information we received was premature. Thank you very much for your understanding."

D'oh!

'Let Him Try to Come Here In the Philippines and He'll See Mayhem'

Looks like the bloated liberal bigot Alec Baldwin isn't too popular in the Philippines.

Alec Baldwin's joke about getting a Filipino mail-order bride provoked a sharp response in the Philippines, with one senator saying Monday that the "30 Rock" star faces violence if he ever visits.

Baldwin, 51, who is divorced with a teenage daughter, said in a May 12 interview on "The Late Show" with David Letterman that he would love to have more children.

The Emmy-winning actor quipped that he was "thinking about getting a Filipino mail-order bride at this point ... or a Russian one."

Baldwin has been involved in a bitter dispute with his ex-wife, Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger, over custody of their 13-year-old daughter, Ireland.

Philippine Sen. Ramon Revilla said Monday that Baldwin's comment was "insensitive and uncalled for" and an insult to millions of Filipinos.

Doesn't Revila understand we livew with a double standard. You see, Baldwin is a liberal, so he's allowed to say anything he wants and insult anyone he chooses without consequence.

He called the actor "arrogant" and said he is apparently unaware that the Philippines has a law against mail-order brides.

"Let him try to come here in the Philippines and he'll see mayhem," Revilla said, using a local idiom that implies the speaker will personally administer a beating.

Philippines: 'Hey, Let's Give Them a State'

This is a really bad idea if you ask me. But nobody's asking, so they'll figure it out eventually.

When it's too late, of course.

The Philippines will hold a plebiscite early next year in more than 700 southern villages to set up an ancestral homeland for Muslims, part of a deal with the country's biggest rebel group, officials said on Thursday.

Hermogenes Esperon, the president's peace adviser, told reporters the proposed Muslim homeland would also be empowered to collect about 75 percent of taxes from oil, mines and fisheries in the area.

He was speaking in Manila a day after government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) negotiators hammered out a deal in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital.

"The government has agreed to grant broader political, social and economic power to the Muslims based on a deal we have reached with the rebels in Malaysia," Esperon said, adding everything that was agreed was within the country's constitution.

"The final political solution will still be negotiated, and, if needed, we will amend the constitution to reflect what was agreed upon with the rebels. It appears we're creating a federal system, but that is not what we have now in our constitution."

The deal would expand the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), an area in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines that was carved out in an agreement with another Muslim rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Esperon said he could not reveal the full details of the deal with the MILF due to the confidentiality of the negotiations, but said it went beyond the earlier agreement with the MNLF.

These people think they can actually draw a bargain with these MILF terrorists, who Reuters lovingly likes to call rebels.

Talk about cutting off your own heads.

Honoring Good Friday With Crucifixions

Lenlen Pedrosa, an 18-year-old student, crucifies herself in a voluntary ritual to mark the death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday in Kapitangan village in Bulacan province, north of Manila, March 21, 2008. Voluntary crucifixion is the most extreme display of religious devotion in the Philippines, a largely Catholic country in Southeast Asia. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

Taking things to the extreme. Seriously, folks, the church does not recommend this.

Filipinos including a 15-year-old were nailed to crosses and scores more whipped their backs into a bloody pulp on Friday in a gory ritual to mark the death of Jesus Christ.

The voluntary crucifixions in the northern Philippines were the most extreme displays of religious devotion in this mainly Catholic country, where millions are praying and fasting ahead of the Easter weekend.

In the small village of Cutud, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Manila, men cried out as nails the size of pencils were driven into their hands and feet before they were hoisted up in the scorching heat. Eight went through the process. Eleven backed out, organizers said.

"The poor are getting poorer. They are the focus of my penance and my petitions. I pray there's equality in the society," said Ruben Inaje, showing his bandaged hands after his crucifixion.

In the neighboring province of Bulacan, five people were nailed to wooden crosses, including a 15-year-old boy and an 18-year-old girl.

Thousands watched the spectacle in Cutud, which has grown from a village production started in 1962 to a media and tourist attraction copied in other parts of the country.

For hours before the crucifixions lines of men, hooded and half naked, flayed their backs with bamboo whips and paddles tipped with broken glass. Blood splattered over the road.

The atmosphere was festive, with hawkers selling beer, ice-cream and souvenir whips. VIPs watched from a specially elevated "viewing platform".

Why Not Just Call Them Community Activists?

Get a load of this attempt by the socialists at the BBC to avoid calling some terrorists terrorists:

Manila 'bomb plotters' arrested

The Philippine authorities say they have arrested three suspected militants accused of plotting to bomb foreign embassies in the capital, Manila.

The alleged targets were the British, U.S., Australian and Israeli embassies.

So where are these militants from? Scotland? Canada?

The three men are said to be Middle Eastern. One of them was carrying a Jordanian travel document.

Officials believe the men may have links to regional Islamist groups - Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines and Jemaah Islamiah in Indonesia.

"I don't have the names and the complete details of their arrests, but they were involved in teaching local terrorists on how to make bombs," Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said."

This is not the first times these jokers have gotten picked up:

The Jordanian was arrested in Manila last month, while the two others were recently captured in the southern Philippines in two separate incidents.

So, the PC factory at the BBC came up with bomb plotters, suspected militants and said they may have links to regional Islamist groups.

Anything but say what they are, which is terrorists.

Bali Bomber Reportedly Found Dead in Philippines

This is most welcome news for civilization and bad news for Jemaah Islamiyah.

A body believed to be that of Indonesian terrorist leader Dulmatin, wanted for the October 2002 Bali bombings, was recovered Monday afternoon by a joint military team in Tawi-Tawi province.

Intelligence reports said the body was found 1:30 p.m. at the vicinity of Sitio Salisit in Balimbing village, Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi.

"(The) said corpse was jointly identified by informants with notable wounds in the head, chest and right foot to include clothing in physical characteristics matched with previous revelations," the report said.

The body was exhumed for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing for confirmation.

Reached for comments, Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino said that if the remains turn out to be that really of Dulmatin, his death could be traced to the January 31 clash in the province.

"That is the report we got from our units in Tawi-Tawi. Remember that during the January 31 encounter, he was reported injured," Dolorfino told reporters.

Dolorfino said an informant led government troops to Dulmatin's supposed gravesite and that based on the informant's accounts of the slain terrorist's injuries, "it matched with (the accounts) of our witness."

"This is a big blow to the JI and the Abu Sayyaf," Dolorfino said.

More here, here and here.

Hot Air links. Thanks!

Spreading the Joys of Islam

The global jihad against civilization continues unabated.

Muslim rebels kill 20 Philippine troops in south

MANILA, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Muslim rebels killed at least 20 Philippine soldiers on Thursday in gun battles on the remote southern island of Jolo, the army said.

At least nine soldiers were killed and two were wounded in an ambush in the morning near the town of Maimbung, where the troops were headed to buy food, Major-General Ruben Rafael said. One of the wounded later died.

Reinforcements were rushed to the area and troops began pursuing the rebels, officials said.

In a gun battle later in the day, at least 10 soldiers were killed in mountains near Maimbung, said Major Eugene Batara, a military spokesman in the city of Zamboanga, the headquarters of the Philippines' southern military command.

There was no immediate word of any rebel casualties.

The tropical isle of Jolo, a base for Muslim militants in the largely Catholic country, has seen an escalation in violence after the army started collecting unlicensed guns from civilians.

An army spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Ernesto Torres, said about 100 rebels from the Abu Sayyaf and a rogue faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) were believed to be behind the ambush in the morning, retaliating for losses in an earlier clash.

On Wednesday, soldiers killed four Muslim rebels in a brief gun battle in nearby Parang town, where a soldier was also killed and five were wounded.

But, the mainstream MNLF, which signed a peace deal with the government in 1996, claimed it was behind the ambush, saying it was retaliation for the deaths of five people during an army offensive a day earlier.

Dougie Hooper was unavailable for comment.

Headchoppers Strike in Philippines

The Religion of Peace strikes again, spreading the love and message of Islam around the globe.

Rebels behead Philippine troops

Islamic militants in the southern Philippines have killed 14 marines, beheading 10 of them, a military spokesman has said.

Nine other marines were wounded and at least four rebels were killed during the incident on Basilan island.

The clash took place as the marines were searching for an Italian priest.

The priest was seized in June by kidnappers believed to be from either Abu Sayyaf or the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Both groups are seeking an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

The priest, named as Giancarlo Bossi, was seized by armed men near the coastal village of Bulawan near Zamboanga on 10 June.

Marine spokesman Lt Col Ariel Caculitan said the marines ran into a group of some 300 armed men during their search for him, triggering the clash.

Lt Col Caculitan said that 14 marines had been killed. The number of rebels who died is unconfirmed, but reports vary from four to at least 20.

Who knew MILF's could be so dangerous?

Attention Truthers

Here's something for the Kooky Kult of Koslam to go into denial about.

Philippine troops defuse bus bomb after U.S. Embassy warning

The bomb — black powder stuffed in a pitcher with steel fragments for deadlier effect — was hidden in a backpack on a bus where it was hastily abandoned by two men late Sunday in southern Maguindanao's Talitay town, regional army spokesman Lt. Col. Julieto Ando said.

Panicking passengers grabbed the bag and hurled it outside the bus. Police and army experts later defused the bomb, which was attached to a timer and batteries but was not yet set to explode, Ando said.

A police investigation was under way to determine whether the foiled bombing was planned by al-Qaida-linked militants, or linked to lingering political wrangling following May 14 congressional and local elections, he said.

The volatile Maguindanao region, where Muslim guerrillas and political warlords hold sway, was hit by bombings and gun attacks because of intense political rivalries during the balloting.

"It's hard to pinpoint who left that bomb in the bus," Ando told The Associated Press by telephone.

Maybe someone working on orders from Karl Rove?

"We had our share of bombings, killings and gun strafing in the recent elections. It's impossible not to have those in an elections here."

We're waiting for leading presidential candidate Ron Paul to link this event to US foreign policy blowback.

Tests Confirm Abu Sayyaf Leader's Death

Some pleasant news to start the day.

DNA test results confirmed that the leader of the al-Qaida-linked group Abu Sayyaf was killed during a clash with Philippine troops in September, officials said Saturday.

Word of Khadaffy Janjalani's death came just days after U.S.-backed Philippine troops killed his possible successor, senior Abu Sayyaf commander Abu Sulaiman, who was wanted in the beheading of a California tourist and the kidnapping of two American missionaries.

The deaths of Janjalani and Sulaiman mark a major victory in the campaign to wipe out Islamic militants in the south of the archipelago after years of bombings and kidnappings.

Plenty more of these maggots. Just keep wiping them out.