Free Republic

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...

About 120,000 people have held a demonstration in Manila urging Philippine President Gloria Arroyo to stay in office. President Arroyo is facing allegations of election rigging and members of her family are accused of taking pay-offs from illegal gambling. With her presidency in peril, a large turn-out was crucial to Mrs Arroyo's chances of survival. Three days ago 30,000 demonstrators demanded the president's resignation. But on Saturday the president's supporters fought back with a rally of their own. Tens of thousands of people filled Rizal Park - a stretch of green in the heart of the Philippine capital. They waved...

GLORIA Arroyo is almost certain to become the first incumbent Philippines president to retain office since the ousting of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos when 42 million voters go to the polls on Monday. Short of a disaster - which, if this week's top-level predictions are correct, could still occur, and include anything from a Madrid-style terror attack to a military coup - Ms Arroyo's lead in the latest opinion polls appears to be unassailable. Her main rival, Fernando Poe, will hold a last rally in central Makati City tonight in an attempt to rejuvenate a campaign that has virtually come...

MANILA - President Gloria Arroyo said yesterday the Philippines had struck a heavy blow against terrorists in the region with the arrest of 'Commander Robot', a leader of the Abu Sayyaf group. He led a band of kidnappers who raided resorts in Malaysia's Sipadan island in April 2000, seizing 21 hostages. 'Relentless pressure is taking its toll and we will keep it up until all the terrorists are accounted for and they no longer pose a threat,' she said. 'Commander Robot', whose real name is Galib Andang, was captured late on Sunday after a gunbattle in southern Jolo island. Wounded...

The second front in America's war on terror is yielding limited results THE arrival in January of 1,200 American soldiers in sleepy Basilan island in the southern Philippines drew attention to a wider threat of international terrorism in South-East Asia. Abu Sayyaf, a militant group the Americans have been helping to fight, is just one of many in the region, after all. Its founder, Abubakar Janjalani, trained with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. Two of the September 11th hijackers had spent time in Malaysia. Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first bombing of the World Trade Centre, in 1993, used...