Timeline Philippines
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LC Chron 1887-1902: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/chronphil.html
1.8-10,000BCE The Cagayan Valley
archaeological site has revealed stone tools from the Pleistocene.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.F)
1400-1500 Vigan historic town on Luzon was
established by Chinese traders by this time.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.F)
1521 March 9, Magellan sailed
west, southwest towards the Philippines.
(V.D.-H.K.p.177-178)
1521 Mar 15, Ferdinand Magellan
discovered the Philippine Islands, where he was killed by natives the
following month. [see Apr 26]
(PCh, 1992, p.172)(MC, 3/17/02)(AP, 3/16/97)
1521 Apr 7, Ferdinand Magellan
landed on Cebu Island, Philippines. Italian chronicler Antonio
Pigafetta reported a thriving port with large supplies of rice and
gold. In 2003 the island was a booming commercial center with a
population of 4 million.
(WSJ, 10/15/03, p.B2A)
1521 Apr 26, Magellan was killed
in a fight with natives on Mactan Island. Magellan named the Mariana
Islands Islas de los Ladrones (Islands of Thieves), and was killed by
natives on Cebu. Juan Sebastian Elcano, Magellan’s second in command,
returned to Spain with 18 men and one ship, the Vittorio, laden with
spices. His coat of arms was augmented in reward with the inscription
Primus circumdisti me: “You were the first to encircle me.” Some 50,000
Chamorro people populated the islands. [see Apr 27]
(V.D.-H.K.p.177-178)(SFEC,11/10/96,Z1p.2)(TL-MB,
p.12)(SFEC, 3/7/99,Z1 p.4)
1521 April 27, Ferdinand Magellan
(50), Portuguese explorer, was killed by natives in the Philippines.
[see Apr 26]
(AP, 4/27/99)
1565 Apr 27, First Spanish
settlement in Philippines was established in Cebu City.
(HN, 4/27/98)
1565 Philip II of Spain sent
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and 1,000 mercenaries from Mexico to
wrest the Philippines from Muslim sultans, who had ruled since the 12th
century.
(SFC, 7/7/03, p.A6)
1565 Father Andres Urdaneta
sighted land believed to be the California coast while sailing on the
Manila to Acapulco trade route.
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A25)
1571 Mar 19, Spanish troops
occupied Manila. [see May 19]
(MC, 3/19/02)
1571 May 19, Miguel Lopez de
Lagazpi founded the city of Manila in the Philippines and encountered
Chinese settlements. [see Mar 19]
(DTnet, 5/19/97)(WSJ, 12/26/02, p.A1)
1586 Spanish Captain Francisco
Gali died in Manila and Pedro de Unamuno took command of his 2 ships to
return to Acapulco.
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A25)
1587 Oct 18, Spanish Captain Pedro
de Unamuno discovered California. He landed at a place he called Port
San Lucas, later identified as Morro Bay City, while sailing from Macao
to Acapulco with a crew of Luzon Indians.
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A25)
1603 Oct 20, A Chinese uprising in
the Philippines failed after 23,000 killed.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1608 Shogun Ieyasu ordered Will
Adams to go to the Philippines to invite the Spanish Gov. Don Diego
Vevero y Velasco to compete with the Portuguese for trade with Japan.
(ON, 11/02, p.10)
1755 Jun 30, Philippines closed
all non-Catholic Chinese restaurants.
(MC, 6/30/02)
1762 Oct 5, The British fleet
bombarded and captured Spanish-held Manila in the Philippines.
(HN, 10/5/98)
1773 The Royal Captain, a merchant
ship of the British East India Co., was lost off a coral reef in the
Philippines.
(WSJ, 7/21/00, p.W2)
1814 In Legazpi the Mayon volcano
erupted and 1,200 people were killed.
(SFC, 6/25/01, p.A9)
1820 Mar 9-11, Philippines chased
out foreigners and about 125 died.
(MC, 3/9/02)
1890 Philippine brewer San Miguel
began making beer.
(WSJ, 4/9/09, p.B1)
1898 Apr 24, US fleet under
commodore Dewey steamed from Hong Kong to Philippines.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1898 May 1, US Commodore George
Dewey gave the command, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," as
his naval force destroyed a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay in the
Philippines. Dewey’s ships lobbed shells into Filipino-dug trenches and
the battle became a massacre. Navy Captain Charles Gridley earned a
place in history during the Battle of Manila Bay.
(AP, 5/1/97)(Hem, Dec. 94, p.70)(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1
p.4)(HN 8/13/98)
1898 May 25, 1st US troop
transport to Manila left San Francisco.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1898 Jun 12, The Philippines
gained independence from Spain. Emilio Aguinaldo, rebel leader,
proclaimed Philippine independence. Aguinaldo served as the first
president.
(SFC, 6/8/96, p.A17)(SFC, 3/31/97, p.A14)(AP,
6/12/97)(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1 p.4)
1898 Jul 8, US battle fleet under
Adm. Dewey occupied Isla Grande at Manila.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1898 Aug 12, Fighting in the
Spanish-American War came to an end. The peace protocol ending the
Spanish-American War was signed Dec 10 after three months and 22 days
of hostilities. 460 US soldiers died in battle. The US paid Spain $20
million to vacate Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Over the
next 3 years US casualties in the Philippines war totaled over 4,000.
(AP, 8/12/97)(WSJ, 2/23/98, p.A20)(HN,
8/12/00)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.D1)(WSJ, 7/2/03, p.B1)
1898 Aug 13, Manila, the capital
of the Philippines, fell to the U.S. Army under Adm. George Dewey. It
was later reported that Dewey had agreed to sacrifice the lives of
American soldiers in order to give Spanish officers, who had retained
dead soldiers on payroll, a chance to report heavy fatalities back to
Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_(1898))(SSFC, 6/29/08,
DB p.58)
1898 Dec 10, The United States and
Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Spanish-American War. This
ceded Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam to the United States. The
US Senate ratified the treaty February 6, 1899. The US military
governed Puerto Rico from October 1898 until May 1900, when the US
Congress instituted a civil government. The civil government underwent
many changes until a Constitutional Assembly formed in 1950 and
established a Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which was proclaimed on July
25, 1952. [see Aug 12]
(AP, 12/10/97)(HN, 12/10/98)(HNQ, 7/28/01)
1898-1900 A 2-year battle against American troops was
waged by the Filipinos who sought independence, not a new colonial
ruler.
(SFC, 6/9/97, p.A15)
1898-1905 The 9th Cavalry, a black unit from Fort
Mason, was shipped to help subdue the Philippines Insurrection.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.C14)
1899 Jan 10, Filipino leader
Emilio Aguinaldo renounced the Treaty of Paris, which annexed the
Philippines to the United States.
(HN, 1/10/00)
1899 Jan 20, President William
McKinley appointed a Philippine Commission led by Jacob G. Schurman,
president of Cornell University, to study the situation in the island
and to submit a report to serve as a basis for setting up a civil
government. Established on January 20, 1899, the commission issued
findings in June suggesting the ultimate independence for the islands
but, for an indefinite period continued U.S. rule.
(HNQ, 1/3/00)
1899 Feb 4, After an exchange of
gunfire, fighting broke out between American troops and Filipinos near
Manila, sparking the Philippine-American War (also referred to as the
Philippine Insurrection of 1899). American soldiers patrolling in Santa
Mesa opened fire on Filipino soldiers near a bridge over the San Juan
River.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1p.1)(HN, 2/4/00)
1899 Feb 5, The devastation from
the battle of Santa Ana was captured in photos by F. Tennyson Neely.
The collection was published as "Fighting in the Philippines."
(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1 p.1)
1899 Sep, The USS Charleston
engaged in shellfire upon Subic Bay in the Philippines.
(G, Spring/98, p.5)
1900 Jun 21, General Arthur
MacArthur offered amnesty to Filipinos rebelling against American rule.
(HN, 6/21/98)
1900 Dec 23, The Federal Party,
which recognized American sovereignty, was formed in the Philippines.
(HN, 12/23/98)
c1900 The Ordonez cannon was
brought back to the Presidio in SF as a trophy of war by William
Randolph Hearst. It had been manufactured in Spain and was initially
captured by the Filipinos from the Spanish army. It reportedly suffered
a direct hit from US forces in an engagement near Subic Bay.
(SFC, 6/9/97, p.A15,16)(G, Spring/98, p.5)
1900 Pres. McKinley appointed
Prof. Bernard Moses of Berkeley one of three commissioners in the
Philippines charged with developing a plan for governing the islands
once control was established.
(SFEM, 1/30/00, p.13)
1900 David Prescott Barrows was
appointed as superintendent of schools in Manila and then as chief of
the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes with the task of formulating plans
to bring them under control for beneficent exploitation.
(SFEM, 1/30/00, p.14)
1901 Mar 23, A group of U.S. Army
soldier led by Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston captured Emilio Aguinaldo,
the leader of the Philippine Insurrection of 1899.
(HN, 3/23/99)
1901 Jul 4, William H. Taft, later
the 27th president of the United States, became the American
territorial governor of the Philippines. Taft soon appointed Prof.
Bernard Moses secretary of public instruction for the Philippines.
Taft, who had been solicitor general of the U.S. under President
Benjamin Harrison, was a federal circuit court judge when President
William McKinley appointed him to serve as president of the U.S.
Philippines Commission in 1900-01. Later in 1901, President Theodore
Roosevelt named Taft the first civil governor of the Philippines
Islands, a post he held for four years.
(HN, 7/4/98)(SFEM, 1/30/00, p.13)(HNQ, 2/18/00)
1901 Sep 28, At Balangiga on Samar
Island, Philippine villagers surprised a the US military Company C, 9th
Infantry Regiment. Church bells, used to signal the attack, were taken
by the Americans. 38 of 74 US soldiers were killed and all the rest but
6 were wounded. Philippine casualties were estimated at 50-250 with 48
American soldiers killed.
(WSJ, 11/19/97, p.A6)(SFC, 10/18/03, p.A18)
1901 US Brig. Gen’l. Jacob Smith
ordered US Marine and Army units to turn the island of Samar in the
Philippines into a “howling wilderness” so that "even birds could not
live there" in retaliation for the Sep 5 attack at Balangiga. The
mission bells of Balangiga were taken as war booty and later placed in
the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyo. A Marine major was
court-martialed on murder charges for executing 11 Filipino prisoners
but was acquitted after he testified that he was under orders to shoot
every Filipino over age 10. Gen’l. Smith was found guilty of misconduct
and admonished.
(WSJ, 11/19/97, p.A6)(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1 p.4)
1902 Jul 4, Pres. Roosevelt
officially ended the Philippine-American War. Estimates for the
civilian people killed ranged from 250,000 to 1 million. Creighton
Miller in 1982 published "Benevolent Assimilation," a comprehensive
account of the conflict.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1 p.1,4)(WSJ, 11/19/97, p.A6)(PC,
1992, p.642)
1903 Jul 3, The first cable across
the Pacific Ocean was spliced between Honolulu, Midway, Guam and
Manila. Teddy Roosevelt placed the atoll of Midway Island under Navy
supervision. The Commercial Pacific Cable Co. (later AT&T) set
cable across the Pacific via Midway Island and the first around the
world message was sent. The message took 9 minutes to circle the globe.
[see Jul 4]
(SFEC, 7/20/97, p.T5)(HN, 7/3/98)
1903 Jul 4, Pacific Cable (SF,
Hawaii, Guam, Philippines) opened, and Pres. Teddy Roosevelt sent a
message. [see Jul 3]
(Maggio, 98)
1903 David Prescott Barrows
succeeded Bernard Moses as general superintendent of the Philippine
schools until 1909.
(SFEM, 1/30/00, p.14)
1905 US General Leonard Wood
(b.1860) took over as military commander of the Philippines.
(www.wood.army.mil/MGLeonardwood.htm)
1906 Mar, American forces killed
some 900 Muslims including women and children on Mount Dajo.
(SSFC, 11/25/01, p.D3)
1911 The Taal volcano erupted and
1,335 people were killed.
(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A14)
1916 Feb 2, U.S. Senate voted
independence for Philippines, effective in 1921.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1916 In the Philippines native
legislators were 1st elected but the US governors general remained in
charge for years.
(SSFC, 5/11/03, p.D6)
1916 US troops were still fighting
skirmishes on some islands of the Philippines to this time.
(WSJ, 11/19/97, p.A6)
1917 Sep 11, Ferdinand Marcos,
Philippines Pres (1965-86), was born.
(MC, 9/11/01)
1920s Jose Garcia Villa was
suspended from law school for publishing erotic poems. A Manila court
fined him for obscenity.
(SFC, 2/10/97, p.A20)
1921-1927 General Leonard Wood (b.1860) served a
governor-general of the Philippines.
(www.wood.army.mil/MGLeonardwood.htm)
1926 Jul 26, Philippines
government asked the US to plebiscite for independence.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1927 Jun 26, Direct commercial
radio service between the Philippines and the US was inaugurated with a
message from Manila to SF.
(SFC, 6/21/02, p.G2)
1928 Mar 18, Fidel Ramos was born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)
1928 Aug 31, Jaime Lachica Sin was
born on Panay Island. He was one of 16 children and became a cardinal
of the Catholic Church in 1976.
(SSFC, 1/28/01, p.A19)
1930 Jose Garcia Villa (1909-1997)
won the Philippine Free Press literary contest for a short story and
used the money to go to the US.
(SFC, 2/10/97, p.A20)
1932 Nov 27, Benigno Aquino Jr.
(d.1983), Philippine opposition leader; was born.
(MC, 11/27/01)
1933 Jan 12, US Congress
recognized the independence of the Philippines.
(MC, 1/12/02)
1933 Jan 25, Corazon Aquino was
born as Corazon Cojuangco. She defeated the corrupt Ferdinand Marcos to
become the President of the Philippines (1986-1992). Her husband had
been killed by Marcos’ gunmen.
(HN, 1/25/99)(www.answers.com/topic/coraz-n-aquino)
1934 May 1, The Philippine
legislature accepted a U.S. proposal for independence.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1934 May 7, World's largest pearl
(6.4 kg) was found at Palawan, Philippines.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1935 May 14, A plebiscite in the
Philippines ratified a independence agreement.
(HN, 5/14/98)
1935 Nov 14, Manuel Luis Quezon
was sworn in as the first Filipino president, as the Commonwealth of
Philippines was inaugurated. Pres. Roosevelt proclaimed the Philippine
Islands a free commonwealth.
(HN, 11/14/98)(AP, 11/14/97)
1935 Nov 22, Pan Am inaugurated
the first transpacific airmail service, San Francisco to Manila. The
Pan Am China Clipper under Captain Ed Musick took off from Alameda
Point bound for the Philippines with 111,000 letters. It was the
company's first trans-Pacific flight. The plane was a 25-ton Martin
M-130 flying boat with a wingspan of 130 feet, and was the largest
aircraft in world service.
(HN, 11/22/98)(Ind, 5/1/99, p.5A)(SFEM, 2/13/00,
p.35)(NPub, 2002, p.13)
1935 Nov 29, The Pan Am China
Clipper under Captain Ed Musick landed in manila Bay in the Philippines
after stops in Hawaii, Midway Island, Wake Island and Guam. It was the
company's first trans-Pacific flight.
(HFA, ‘96, p.18)(HN, 11/22/98)(Ind, 5/1/99,
p.5A)(SFEM, 2/13/00, p.35)
1936 Oct 21, Pan Am inaugurated
the first passenger flight from California to the Philippines with 9
passengers.
(SFEM, 2/13/00, p.37)
1941 Mar 15, Philippine Airlines
maid its maiden flight from Manila to Baguio.
(SFC, 9/24/98, p.A19)
1941 Oct, The US decided to send
some of the new Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses to the Philippines.
Unlike the older bombers, it was not feasible to dismantle them and
send them by ship -- so they had to be flown all the way. Aircraft
range limits dictated a roundabout route for the unprecedented flight
of distance and scale -- 35 Fortresses were to be sent. Despite many
problems they got to Clark Field, only to have 17 of them destroyed a
month and a half later when the Japanese bombed the field a day after
the Pearl Harbor attack.
(HNQ, 1/15/02)
1941 Dec 8, Japan attacked the
Philippines. The United States entered World War II as Congress
declared war against Japan, a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.T7) (AP,
12/8/97)
1941 Dec 9, 1st US WW II bombing
mission in Far East took place over Luzon, Philippines.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1941 Dec 10, The US submarine
Sealion was sunk in an air attack at Manila Bay. 10 crewman were
captured by the Japanese and shipped to work in a Mitsubishi copper
mine in northern Japan.
(SSFC, 6/17/01, Par p.5)
1941 Dec 10, Luzon, Philippines,
was occupied by Japanese troops.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(HN, 12/10/98)
1941 Dec 12, Buzz Wagner, the
first official American ace of World War II, took off on a lone
reconnaissance mission over Aparri, Philippines. Because of devastating
losses by the U.S. fighter force two days earlier, orders had come down
restricting confrontation with enemy fighters if at all possible. His
reconnaissance mission turned into a combat mission when he descended
from a patch of clouds and found himself practically on top of two
Japanese destroyers. Spotted and chased by a pair of Japanese fighters,
Wagner eluded the enemy and took out five of 12 enemy planes. Four days
later, Wagner and two associates went into combat over Vigan and left
behind 17 enemy planes destroyed or burning, with an unknown number of
Japanese dead lying on the runway. The mission garnered the most
devastating results of the air war to date.
(HNQ, 5/14/02)
1941 Dec 20, Japanese troops
landed on Mindanao.
(MC, 12/20/01)
1941 Dec 22, Japanese troops made
an amphibious landing on the coast of Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, the
Philippines.
(HN, 12/22/98)
1941 Dec 26, General Douglas
MacArthur declared Manila an open city in the face of the onrushing
Japanese Army.
(HN, 12/26/98)
1941 Dec 27, Japanese bombers
attacked Manila, despite its claim as an open city.
(HN, 12/27/98)
1941 Dec 31, General MacArthur
reported that U.S. lines in Manila had been pushed back by the Japanese.
(HN, 12/31/98)
1942 Jan 2, The Philippine capital
of Manila and the US Naval base at Cavite were captured by Japanese
forces.
(AP, 1/2/98)(HN, 1/2/02)
1942 Jan 5, U.S. and Filipino
troops completed their withdrawal to a new defensive line along the
base of the Bataan peninsula.
(HN, 1/5/99)
1942 Jan 7, The World War II siege
of Bataan began.
(AP, 1/7/98)
1942 Jan 18, General MacArthur
repelled the Japanese in Bataan.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1942 Feb 22, President Franklin
Roosevelt ordered Gen. Douglas MacArthur to leave the Philippines.
(HN, 2/22/99)
1942 Mar 11, As Japanese forces
continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II Gen. Douglas
MacArthur left Corregidor in the Philippines for Australia. MacArthur,
who subsequently vowed, "I shall return," kept that promise more than 2
1/2 years later. MacArthur relinquished command in the Philippines to
Gen’l. Jonathon Wainwright.
(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.T7)(AP,
3/11/98)(http://tinyurl.com/736ws)
1942 Apr 3, The Japanese began
their all-out assault on the U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan.
(HN, 4/3/99)
1942 Apr 9, In the Battle of
Bataan, some 70,000 soldiers gathered at the bottom of the Bataan
peninsula during World War II. American and Philippine defenders on
Bataan capitulated to Japanese forces; the surrender was followed by
the notorious 55-mile “Bataan Death March” which claimed nearly 10,000
lives. 12,000 American soldiers surrendered to the Japanese and some
1000 died on the march. [see Apr 10]
(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.T7)(AP, 4/9/97)(HN, 4/9/98)(SSFC,
6/17/01, Par p.4)
1942 Apr 10, The 65-mile Bataan
Death March began to a prison camp near Cabanatuan. The prisoners were
forced to march 85 miles in six days with only one meal of rice during
the entire journey. Some 10k-15k soldiers perished on the march. Bataan
is a peninsula of western Luzon in the Philippines. It was surrendered
to the Japanese in this year and retaken by American forces in 1945.
[see Apr 9]
(HFA, ‘96, p.28)(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.T7)(SFC, 4/25/97,
p.A26)(MC, 4/10/02)
1942 Apr 12, Japan killed about
400 Filipino officers in Bataan.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1942 May 5, The first Japanese
soldiers landed on the Philippine island of Corregidor defended by only
13,000 soldiers under Gen’l. Wainwright. More than 1,000 Americans and
Filipinos died in defense of the island.
(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.T7)
1942 May 6, On Corregidor US
Gen’l. Jonathan Wainwright surrendered his forces, some 15,000
Americans and Filipinos, to the Japanese. This began a 3-year ordeal
for 4 doctors as POWs under the Japanese. In 2005 John A. Glusman
authored “Conduct Under Fire,” and account of their survival as POWs.
(AP, 5/6/97)(SSFC, 7/10/05,
p.E4)(http://tinyurl.com/736ws)
1942 Jun 16, Lt. Edwin P. Ramsey
led the last US cavalry charge at the village of Morong in the
Philippines. His mounted platoon of 27 men routed a force of hundreds
of Japanese soldiers.
(SFEC, 2/23/97, BR p.4)
1942-1945 The US promised over 250,000 Filipino
fighters citizenship with full military benefits during WW II. Shortly
after the war the US Congress withdrew this pledge. Citizenship was
granted in 1990 and limited benefits in 1999.
(SFEC,12/14/97, Z1 p.4)(SFC, 3/24/00, p.A6)
1943 Apr, Magdaleno Sanchez
Duenas, Philippine guerrilla fighter, (1914-2005) assisted in the
escape of 10 US servicemen from the Davao Penal Colony.
(SSFC, 3/6/05, p.A21)
1944 Mar 30, The U.S. fleet
attacked Palau, near the Philippines.
(HN, 3/30/98)
1944 Jun 19, The Battle of the
Philippine Sea (Battle of the Marianas), called the "Marianas Turkey
Shoot," began when Japanese naval forces attacked the stronger U.S.
naval forces. 280 Japanese planes were shot down by U.S. carrier- based
planes and anti-aircraft fire from U.S. ships. Americans shoot down 220
Japanese planes while only losing 20.
(BEP, 1994)(DT, 6/19/97)(HN, 6/19/98)
1944 Sep, The U.S. 1st Marine
Division sought to take Peleliu, to protect General MacArthur's eastern
flank as he tried to retake the Philippines, where he had retreated
from in 1942.
(HNQ, 8/29/01)
1944 Oct 19, US forces landed in
the Philippines. [see Oct 20]
(MC, 10/19/01)
1944 Oct 20, Gen. Douglas
MacArthur stepped ashore on A-Day (attack day) at Leyte in the
Philippines, 2 1/2 years after he'd said, "I shall return." He landed
with Sergio Osmena, the president-in-exile, and Gen’l. Carlos Romulo,
who later served as foreign minister.
(AP, 10/20/97)(HN, 10/20/98)(SFC, 10/20/04, p.B3)
1944 Oct 21, The 1st Japanese
kamikaze attack took place near Leyte Island; gunners from both the
flagship of the Royal Australian Navy, HMAS Australia, and HMAS
Shropshire fired at, and reportedly hit, an unidentified Japanese
aircraft. The plane then flew away from the ships, before turning and
flying into Australia, striking the ship's superstructure above the
bridge, and spewing burning fuel and debris over a large area. A 200 kg
(440 pound) bomb carried by the plane failed to explode. In 2002 Albert
Axell and Hideaki Kase authored "Kamikaze: Japan's Suicide Gods." In
2006 Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney authored “Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of
Japanese Student Soldiers.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze)(Econ,
7/8/06, p.79)
1944 Oct 23, In the Philippines
the Battle of Leyte Gulf began. In 1947 C. Van Woodward authored "The
Battle of Leyte Gulf."
(AP, 10/23/97)(SFEC, 12/19/99, p.C14)
1944 Oct 24, The aircraft carrier
USS Princeton was sunk by a single Japanese plane during the Battle of
Leyte Gulf.
(HN, 10/24/98)(SFC, 6/22/01, p.D5)
1944 Oct 24, US air raid on
Japanese battleships and cruisers in Sibuya Sea sank the 65,000 ton
Musashi battleship.
(SFC, 4/2/04, p.B7)
1944 Oct 25, Japanese were
defeated in the Straits of Surigao in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the
world's largest sea engagement. From this point on, the depleted
Japanese Navy increasingly resorted to the suicidal attacks of Kamikaze
fighters.
(HN, 10/25/98)(MC, 10/25/01)
1944 Dec 14, The former NYK liner
Oryoku Maru left Manila with 1619 American POWs packed in the holds.
U.S. Navy planes from the "Hornet" attacked, causing the Hell Ship to
sink the following day. Only 200 of the men survived.
(Internet)(SSFC, 2/15/04, p.A29)
1944 Dec 15, In the Philippines
the opening of the battle for Luzon started when MacArthur ordered
troops ashore on the nearby island of Mindoro.
(HN, 12/15/98)(AP, 12/15/07)
1944 Dec 18, The US Third Fleet
encountered a typhoon near the Philippines. The naval destroyers
"Hull," "Spence" & "Monaghan" sank in the typhoon. The storm killed
778 American sailors. 62 of 264 men on the Hull were rescued. 24 of 340
men on the Spence were rescued. 6 of 251 men on the Monaghan survived.
In 1981 C. Raymond Calhoun, the captain of the destroyer Dewey,
authored “Typhoon: The Other Enemy.”
(AH, 10/02, p.56, 60)
1945 Jan 9, American forces began
landing at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines, 107 miles from Manila.
MacArthur finally mounted his invasion of Luzon.
(HN, 1/9/99)(AP, 1/9/99)
1945 Jan 30, US Army Rangers and
Filipino guerrillas executed a flawless rescue of 486 POWs from Camp
Cabanatuan north of Manila. In 2001 Hampton Sides authored “Ghost
Soldiers,” an account of the rescue.
(WSJ, 5/24/01, p.A20)(SSFC, 6/17/01, DB p.70)(AH,
2/05, p.16)y
1945 Feb 3, The month-long Battle
of Manila began.
(HN, 2/3/99)
1945 Feb 5, US troops under
General Douglas MacArthur entered Manila ("I have returned!").
(MC, 2/5/02)
1945 Feb 6, MacArthur reported the
fall of Manila, and the liberation of 5,000 prisoners.
(HN, 2/6/99)
1945 Feb 16, American paratroopers
landed on Corregidor during World War II, in a campaign to liberate the
Philippines. The US proceeded to recapture the island of Corregidor and
nearly 6,000 Japanese soldiers leapt to their death off a ridge rather
than face capture and dishonor.
(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.T6)(AP, 2/16/98)(HN, 2/16/98)
1945 Feb 18, U.S. Marines stormed
ashore at Iwo Jima.
(HN, 2/18/98)
1945 Feb 19, During World War II,
some 30,000 US Marines landed on Iwo Jima, an 8-sq. mile island of
rock, volcanic ash and black sand, where they began a month-long battle
to seize control of the island from Japanese forces. The 36-day battle
took the lives of 7,000 Americans and about 20,000 of 22,000 Japanese
defenders.
(SFC, 6/19/96, p.A20)(SFC, 9/21/00, p.C6)(AP,
2/19/08)
1945 Feb 23, During World War II,
U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised
the American flag. Actually, there were two flag-raisings that day, the
second was the one captured in the famous Associated Press photograph
taken by Joe Rosenthal. John Bradley (d.1994), was one of the soldiers
who raised the US flag at Iwo Jima. The carnage on the 8-sq.-mile
island continued for another 31 days. One flag raising was captured by
AP photographer Joseph Rosenthal (1911-2006) and inspired the 1954
sculpture by Felix de Weldon (d.2003) erected in Washington DC. Sgt.
Bill Genaust filmed the event with a 16mm camera and died in combat 9
days later.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.C6)(SFC, 6/14/03, p.A21)(SFC,
8/21/06, p.A1)(AP, 2/23/07)
1945 Feb 24, American soldiers
liberated the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese control during
World War II.
(AP, 2/24/98)
1945 Feb 24, U.S. forces liberated
prisoners of war in the Los Baños Prison in the Philippines.
(HN, 2/24/99)
1945 Mar 2, The American flag is
raised again over Corregidor, with General Douglas MacArthur and
members of his staff present. MacArthur, commander of U.S. Army Forces
in the Far East, reluctantly fled his headquarters on the rocky
Philippine island of Corregidor in March 1942 as the Japanese closed
in. MacArthur praised the gallant but futile defense of Corregidor as
“an inspiration to carry on the struggle until the Allies should fight
their way back” and vowed to return one day. On February 16, 1945,
elements of the U.S. Sixth Army began the assault on Corregidor, and
after furious fighting, MacArthur made good on his promise.
(HN, 3/2/99)
1945 Mar 3, The Allies fully
secured the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese forces during
World War II.
(AP, 3/3/07)
1945 Mar 10, US troops landed on
Mindanao.
(MC, 3/10/02)
1945 Mar 10, In the Philippines
Pfc. Thomas Eugene Atkins (d. 1999 at 78) repulsed a Japanese attack
while wounded and killed 14 enemy soldiers in northern Luzon.
(SFC, 9/24/99, p.D6)
1945 Mar, Gen'l. Tomoyuki
Yamashita retreated with 140,000 soldiers to the Central Cordillera and
Caraballo mountain ranges of northern Luzon island.
(SFC, 9/24/99, p.D6)
1945 Jun 18, Organized Japanese
resistance ended on the island of Mindanao, Philippines.
(HN, 6/18/98)
1945 Jun 28, General Douglas
MacArthur announced the end of Japanese resistance in the Philippines.
(HN, 6/28/98)
1945 Jul 5, US General Douglas
MacArthur announced that the liberation of the Philippines from its
Japanese occupiers was complete.
(MC, 7/5/02)
1945 Sep 3, General Tomoyuki
Yamashita, the Japanese commander of the Philippines, surrendered to
Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright at Baguio.
(HN, 9/3/98)
1945 Filipino New Scouts were
inducted into the US Army toward the end of WW II. On Dec 16, 2003,
Pres. Bush signed a measure that made Filipino American veterans
eligible for full Veterans Affair health care. Previous benefits were
at half the rate of US veterans.
(SFC, 12/17/03, p.A2)
1946 Feb 23, Japanese General
Tomoyuki Yamashita was hanged in Manila, the Philippines, after being
found guilty by a US military commission of war crimes.
(AH, 2/06, p.15)
1946 Apr 3, Lt. General Masaharu
Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March,
was executed outside Manila in the Philippines.
(AP, 4/3/97)
1946 Jul 4, The Philippines became
independent of U.S. sovereignty. The Philippines, which officially
became a territory of the United States in 1902, gained its
independence. In 1932 a movement to implement Philippine independence
began to grow. The Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934, providing for
independence after 12 years, was unanimously accepted and a Philippine
constitution approved by President Roosevelt in February 1935. Manuel
Quezon was elected the first president of the Philippines on September
17, 1935. In 1937 a Joint Preparatory Commission on Philippine Affairs
was established by Roosevelt to recommend a program for economic
adjustment. The Republic of the Philippines was inaugurated.
(SFC, 3/31/97, p.A14)(AP, 7/4/97)(HNQ, 11/9/99)
1946 A US Congress Recision Act
took away citizenship and benefits promised by Pres. Roosevelt to
Filipinos who had been drafted to fight under Gen. MacArthur. It was
enacted in part because of a $200 million grant to the Philippines
following the war.
(SSFC, 12/30/01, p.A25)(SFC, 12/30/03, p.A15)
1947 Mar 14, The U.S. signed a
99-year lease on naval bases in the Philippines.
(HN, 3/14/98)
1950s Sarao Motors was begun and
later became popular for the manufacture of the popular jeepney
passenger vehicles.
(SFC, 11/22/00, p.A18)
1951 Dec 4, Superheated gases
rolled down Mount Catarman (Philippines), killing 500.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1954 Sep 8, SEATO (Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization), a sister organization to NATO, was created under
the Manila Pact by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, to
stop communist spread in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos).
The United States, Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, the
Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand signed the mutual defense treaty.
SEATO dissolved in 1977.
(HNQ, 4/2/01)(http://tinyurl.com/hpawj)
1957 Jose Cojuangco, the father of
Corazon Aquino, promised various Philippine government agencies that
lent him money to buy Hacienda Luisita, a 14,800 acre sugar plantation,
that he would sell much of the land to the peasants who worked it. He
never did so.
(Econ, 12/10/05, p.49)
1960 The Rockefeller and Ford
foundations joined forces to found the Int’l. Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) in Losa Banos, Philippines.
(Hem., 12/96, p.82)
1961-1965 Diosdado Macapagal served as president.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A1)
1965 Sep 28, A volcano exploded on
Luzon, Philippines; 500 killed.
(MC, 9/28/01)
1965 Nov 12, Ferdinand Marcos was
elected president of Philippines.
(MC, 11/12/01)
1965 Dec 17, Ending an election
campaign marked by bitterness and violence, Ferdinand Marcos was
declared president of the Philippines.
(HN, 12/17/98)
1965 Dec 30, Ferdinand E. Marcos
was sworn in as the Philippine Republic's sixth president.
(SFC, 8/23/96, p.A26)(HN, 12/30/98)
1965 The Taal Volcano erupted and
killed nearly 200 people.
(SFC, 7/31/99, p.A14)
1966 Jul 4, Beatles were attacked
in Philippines after insulting Imelda Marcos.
(Maggio)
1966 The Asian Development Bank,
headquartered in the Philippines, was created to recycle the rich
world’s surpluses to capital starved Asia.
(Econ, 5/12/07,
p.45)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Development_Bank)
1967 Aug 8, The Association of
Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN was established in Bangkok by the five
original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines,
Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January
1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Laos and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and
Cambodia on 30 April 1999.
(www.aseansec.org/64.htm)
1968 The Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP) was formed as a Maoist group. Its armed wing, the New
People’s Army (NPA) began waging guerrilla warfare in 1969.
(SFC, 8/21/01, p.A6)
1969 Dec 30, In the Philippines
Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989) won an unprecedented second term as
president.
(http://philippines-archipelago.com/history/marcos_regime.html)
1969 At their peak in 1969, 68,889
combat troops from Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea,
Thailand and the Philippines were deployed in Vietnam.
(HNQ, 4/14/00)
1970 Nov 27, Pope Paul VI,
visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by
Benjamin Mendoza, a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a
priest.
(AP, 11/27/02)
1971 Jan 24, Pvt. Rogelio Roxas
(d.1993), a former Filipino soldier, allegedly discovered the war
treasure of Japanese Gen’l. Tomoyuki Yamashita in caves near Baguio
City. Roxas was arrested on May 18, 1971, and jailed for 5 years. The
gold bullion was reportedly taken away by Pres. Marcos.
(SFC, 10/12/97, p.A18)(SSFC, 3/4/01,
p.A28)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogelio_Roxas)
1971 Aug 21, There was a grenade
attack on a political rally of the opposition Liberal party. It nearly
wiped out the party's senatorial slate running against Marcos'
Nacionalista Party. Marcos blamed the communists, but others believed
that Marcos planned the attack.
(SFC, 3/21/00, p.A23)
1971 Jun, Manuel Elizalde
(d.1971), a Filipino official, allegedly found the Tasaday, a lost
Stone Age tribe, on Mindanao Island. Enthusiastic reports led to a
book, ''The Gentle Tasaday: A Stone Age People in the Philippine Rain
Forest'' (1975) by John Nance. Skeptics were dismayed in 1974 when Mr.
Elizalde, citing a need to protect the Tasadays from exploitation and
the harmful effects of too much contact with civilization, blocked any
further visits by social scientists.
(SSFC, 6/22/03, p.M1)(http://tinyurl.com/6e97rz)
1972 Sep 21, Ferdinand Marcos
(b.1929) signed Proclamation 1081 placing the Philippines under a state
of martial rule, which lasted for the next 14 years.
(www.geocities.com/pinoytv/martiallaw.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/6g67b4)
1972 Dec 7, Imelda Marcos, wife of
Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos, was stabbed and seriously
wounded by an assailant who was then shot dead by her bodyguards.
(AP, 12/7/97)
1972 The conflict between the
government and Muslim rebels began. A full-scale guerrilla war began in
which some 120,000 people were killed by 1999.
(WSJ, 6/20/96, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/22/99, p.A19)
1973 Jan 17, A new Philippine
constitution came into force.
(www.lawphil.net/consti/cons1973.html)
1974 Mar 9, Officer Hiroo Onoda,
the last Japanese soldier operating in the Philippines, surrendered, 29
years after World War II ended.
(www.einsteinsfrig.com/onoda/index.html)
1974 Jul 19, In the Philippines a
Miss Universe beauty pageant was held and thousands of squatters around
Manila were forcibly moved out of sight. Amparo Munoz of Spain won.
(SFC, 11/18/96,
p.A12)(www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e3Gcv41T7I&feature=related)
1976 In the Philippines a World
Bank Conference was held and thousands of squatters around Manila were
forcibly moved out of sight.
(SFC, 11/18/96, p.A12)(http://tinyurl.com/yv4tka)
1976 In the Philippines the last
execution until 1999 was made.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A12)
1976 Philippine student Yobie
Benjamin was arrested and jailed for helping lead protests at the Univ.
of the Philippines against the dictatorship of Pres. Ferdinand Marco.
Benjamin spent 9 months in jail. He later established himself as an
entrepreneur and created GoodStorm, an e-commerce company, that was
sold to Zazzle.com in 2008. GoodStorm sold products on behalf of
nonprofit organizations.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.A14)
1978 In the Philippines Tony Tan
Caktiong formed Jollibee after realizing that customers in his Manila
ice cream parlor liked his soy and sugar seasoned burgers better than
his sundaes.
(http://jollibeephilippines.com/15/success-story-of-jollibee-in-the-philippines/#more-15)
1979 May 3, In the Philippines a
UN Conference on Trade and Development opened as thousands of squatters
around Manila were forcibly moved out of sight.
(SFC, 11/18/96,
p.A12)(www.lawphil.net/executive/execord/eo1978/eo_497_1978.html)
1981 Feb 17, Pope John Paul II met
with President Marcos in Manila.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1981 Emily Hahn, American writer
(1905-1997), wrote: “The Islands: America’s Imperial Adventures in the
Philippines.”
(SFC, 2/19/96, p.A20)
1981 In the Philippines Hashim
Salamat founded the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) when he and
followers split from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_Islamic_Liberation_Front)
1981-1989 In the Philippines leaders of the Communist
Party and the New People's Army later acknowledged that a number of
rebel commanders killed 600-900 suspected spies and government
informers in the southern Mindanao region during the 1980s. In 2006
soldiers found mass graves in an area called "Garden," a hilly jungle
near the town of Inopacan in Southern Leyte province.
(AP, 8/31/06)
1983 Aug 21, Philippine opposition
leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., ending a self-imposed exile in the United
States, was shot dead moments after stepping off a plane at Manila
International Airport. Fabian Ver (d.1998 at 78), leader of the
Philippine army, was among 20 men later charged in the murder of
Aquino. Ver fled to Hawaii in 1986 along with Marcos.
(AP, 8/21/97)
1983 Sep 21, In the Philippines at
least 7 people were killed in anti Marcos demonstrations in Manila.
(http://tinyurl.com/3xjunn)
1984 The volunteer National
Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) was founded by Jose
Concepcion with business and church leaders who were disgusted with the
corrupt elections run by the Marcos government.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A10)(SFEC, 7/12/98, Z1 p.5)
1986 Feb 7, The Philippines held a
presidential election marred by charges of fraud against the incumbent,
Ferdinand E. Marcos. Corazon Aquino defeated incumbent dictator
Ferdinand Marcos but fraudulent returns gave the election to Marcos.
(AP, 2/7/06)
1986 Feb 15, The Philippines
National Assembly proclaimed Ferdinand E. Marcos president for another
six years, following an election marked by allegations of fraud. Marcos
was later ousted.
(AP, 2/15/06)
1986 Feb 22, In the Philippines a
group of military officers mutinied against Pres. Marcos and holed him
up with a small force at a military camp in Manila, leading to three
days of protests by hundreds of thousands of citizens that finally
toppled him.
(AP, 8/1/09)
1986 Feb 25, President Ferdinand
E. Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a
tainted election. Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency. Pres.
Ferdinand Marcos was forced from office after 20 years of rule. He was
accused of accumulating billions of dollars during his rule. The
Marcoses fled to Hawaii and Imelda Marcos left behind her 5,400 shoes.
(TMC, 1994, p.1986)(SFC, 8/23/96, p.A26)(AP, 2/25/98)
1986 Feb 28, In the Philippines
Pres. Corazon Aquino singed executive order No. 1 creating the
Presidential Commission on Good Governance. It was created to trace and
recover assets stolen under the Marcos regime, estimated at up to $10
billion. By 2007 only a quarter of that number was retrieved.
(www.lawphil.net/executive/execord/eo1986/eo_1_1986.html)(Econ,
8/11/07, p.33)
1986 Feb, Eduardo Cojuangco
(b.1935), aka Danding and crony capitalist to Pres. Marcos, fled the
Philippines. Cojuango had acquired a controlling stake in San Miguel
beer using public funds deposited in a bank that he controlled. In 1999
Mr. Cojuango regained his position as head of the board of San Miguel
even pending litigation for 'ill-gotten wealth."
(WSJ, 8/30/99,
p.A1,10)(www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/98/0724/biz3.html)
1986 Nov 13, In the Philippines
the body of opposition trade leader union Rolando Olalia was found in a
Manila suburb.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, Z1 p.5)(www.mahk.com/sc1613.htm)
1986 Nov 23, Philippine President
Corazon Aquino dismissed defense chief Juan Ponce Enrile after reported
coup attempt.
(AP, 11/23/02)
1986 The People Power Uprising
took place on Manila’s main thoroughfare, later renamed EDSA, Epifanio
de los Santos Avenue, after one of the revolution’s heroes.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, Z1 p.4)
1986 The Communist New People’s
Army staged Operation Zombie, a bloody purge of suspected informers. In
2001 some 75 bodies were discovered in 8 mass graves at Cagayan de Oro.
(SFC, 3/30/01, p.D4)
1987 May 11, Legislative elections
in the Philippines gave pro-Aquino candidates a large majority.
(www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107887.html)
1987 Sep 19, Philippine leftist
opposition leader Leandro Alejandro (b.1960) was murdered.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, Z1 p.5)
1987 Nov 26, Powerful typhoon
whipped across Philippines, killing 270 people and damaging or
destroying 14,000 homes.
(AP, 11/26/02)
1987 Dec 20, Some 4,340 people
were killed when the Dona Paz, a Philippine passenger ship, collided
with the tanker Vector off Mindoro island, setting off a double
explosion.
(AP, 2/3/06)
1987 A new constitution for the
Philippines was drafted with checks and balances to prevent a return to
strongman rule.
(Econ, 7/3/04, p.20)
1987 The Philippines abolished the
death penalty. Capital punishment was reimposed in 1994 in response to
widespread crime.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A12)(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A13)
1987 Ben Chan introduced his 1st
Bench clothing store in the Philippines. By 2005 it grew to over 300
stores and opened up its 1st US store in Daly City, Ca.
(SFC, 6/4/05, p.C1)
1988 Oct 21, A federal grand jury
in New York indicted former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos
and his wife, Imelda, on charges of fraud and racketeering. Marcos died
before he could be brought to trial; his widow, Imelda, was acquitted
in 1990.
(AP, 10/21/98)
1988 Ed Gerlach, American priest,
started the Bahay Tuluyan center for street kids in the Ermita district
(a former red-light area) of Manila.
(SFEC, 6/15/97, p.D1)
1988 The Philippine Congress, at
the urging of Mrs. Aquino, passed the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program (CARP), which limited individual landowners to 7 hectares of
farmland, but the legislation was filled with loopholes.
(Econ, 12/10/05, p.49)
1988 Rogelio Roxas testified that
Ferdinand Marcos had used the help of a Nevada mining engineer to
import a smelter to melt down 1,000 tons of gold bullion and a 3-foot
gold statue of Buddha filled with diamonds. The treasure had been
confiscated from all over Asia by the Japanese.
(SFC, 10/12/97, p.A18)
1988 The separatist Moro Islamic
Liberation Front split and the National Front formed a separate
organization. They signed a unity pact in 2001.
(SFC, 8/8/01, p.A8)
1988-1993 Jamal Khalifa, a brother-in-law to Osama
bin Laden, operated the Benevolence Int’l. Corp. in Manila.
(WSJ, 9/25/01, p.A12)
1989 Apr 19, Adnan Khashoggi, a
Saudi financier, was arrested in Switzerland at the request of the US
Government, which is seeking his extradition to New York to stand trial
on charges of racketeering, fraud and obstruction of justice. He faced
charges stemming from ''illegal property dealings'' on behalf of
Ferdinand E. Marcos, the ousted President of the Philippines, and his
wife, Imelda. In 1992 Khashoggi and Imelda Marcos were found not
guilty of racketeering by a jury in Manhattan.
(http://tinyurl.com/qp8da)(www.maykuth.com/Archives/marcos90.htm)
1989 Apr 21, In the Philippines
there was a communist guerrilla ambush on Col. James Nicolas Rowe. His
car was raked with bullets near his office in the Manila suburb of
Quezon City, killing him and wounding his driver. Donato Continente and
co-defendant Juanito Itaas, who admitted being a member of the
communist New People's Army, were convicted and sentenced to life in
prison in 1991. The Supreme Court later affirmed Itaas' sentence and
reduced Continente's to 14 years after establishing he was an
accomplice. Continente was released in 2005.
(AP, 6/28/05)
1989 Sep 28, Deposed Philippine
President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii at age 72. He was
the author of 2 books: "The Law of Human Rights in the Philippines" and
"Democracy in the Philippines." Marcos’ corrupt US backed regime in the
Philippines spanned over twenty years. Corazon Aquino was his successor.
(SFC, 8/23/96, p.A26)(AP, 9/28/97)(SFC, 5/12/97,
p.A18)
1990 Feb 19, Defense Secretary
Dick Cheney, snubbed by Philippine President Corazon Aquino, met in
Manila with Defense Minister Fidel Ramos to discuss the future of U.S.
bases in the country.
(AP, 2/19/00)
1990 Jul 16, A 7.7 earthquake in
Philippines killed some 5,000 people.
(www.drj.com/drworld/content/w1_116.htm)
1990 US Pres. Bush signed a law
granting Filipino fighters of WW II US citizenship.
(SFEC,12/14/97, Z1 p.1,4)
1991 Jun 12, The Mount Pinatubo
volcano in the Philippines began erupting for the 1st time in 600
years. [see Jun 15]
(AP, 6/12/01)(HN, 6/12/02)
1991 Jun 15, Mount Pinatubo (4,750
feet high) exploded in a cataclysmic eruption. Due to early warning
56,000 people were evacuated and only 450 people died. The eruption
forced the closure of Clark Air Force Base in Angeles City and
displaced hundreds of families of the Aeta tribe. [see June 12]
(SSFC, 11/11/01,
p.F4)(http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/1997/fs113-97/)
1991 Jun 29, Estrellita Vizconde
and her 2 daughters, Carmela (18), and Jennifer (7), were stabbed to
death. Carmela was raped repeatedly and stabbed 17 times. In 2000 eight
defendants, all members of rich families, were found guilty and
sentenced to life in prison. Two of the defendants were still at large.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.D3)
1991 Nov 5, Nearly 7,000 people
were killed in floods in the Philippines.
(AP, 11/5/01)
1991 Nov 26, The Stars and Stripes
were lowered for the last time at Clark Air Base in Angeles City,
Philippines, as the United States abandoned one of its oldest and
largest overseas installations, which was damaged by a volcano.
(SFEC, 11/17/96, p.A12)(AP, 11/26/01)
1991 Dec 27, The United States and
the Philippines announced that the United States would abandon the
Subic Bay naval base by the end of 1992.
(AP, 12/27/01)
1991 Abdujarak Abubakar Janjalani,
a Muslim scholar with military training in Libya, broke with the Moro
National Liberation Front and formed “Abu Sayyaf,” (bearer of the
sword). Jamal Khalifa, a brother-in-law to Osama bin Laden, helped
co-found the Abu Sayyaf and acted as lead adviser to Abdurajak
Janjalani, a young Islamic radical.
(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A10)(WSJ, 9/25/01, p.A12)
1991 The Abu Sayyaf group bombed a
cargo ship in Zamboanga City.
(WSJ, 9/25/01, p.A12)
1992 Jun 30, Fidel Ramos was sworn
in as the new president of the Philippines. Joseph Estrada was elected
vice-president with twice as many votes in a separate race.
(AP, 6/30/97)(SFEC,11/23/97, p.A25)
1992 Nov. 24, The US military
closed the Subic Bay Naval Station and left the Philippines.
(HFA, '96, p.18)(SFEC, 11/17/96, p.A12)
1992 Philippine Airlines was sold
to tycoon Lucio Tan, but the government retained a 20% interest.
(WSJ, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1993 May 25, In the Philippines
Rogelio Roxas, a coin-collector and treasure hunter, died from apparent
poisoning as he prepared to leave for a court appearance in Hawaii. In
1996 a Hawaiian court awarded the Golden Buddha Corp., a consortium
established by Roxas, $22 billion in damages to be collected from the
Marcos estate for the stolen Yamashita treasure.
(SFC, 10/12/97, p.A18)(www.state.hi.us/jud/20606.htm)
1993 Sep 9, Former Philippine
President Ferdinand Marcos was buried in his homeland, four years after
his death in exile.
(AP, 9/9/98)
1993 Sep 24, Imelda Marcos, wife
of the late Ferdinand Marcos, former dictator of the Philippines, was
sentenced to 18 years imprisonment after being found guilty on charges
of widespread corruption. Imelda was also noted for her vast shoe
collection.
(www.atlapedia.com/online/countries/philipp.htm)
1994 Nov 13, President Clinton,
visiting the Philippines, sought to assure world leaders that his
party's severe losses in midterm elections wouldn't undercut his
foreign policy.
(AP, 11/13/99)
1994 Dec 11, A Philippine Airlines
flight from Manila to Tokyo was bombed. A Japanese passenger was killed
and 10 people were injured. Later US prosecutors accused Ramzi Ahmed
Yousef of placing the bomb and of masterminding the 1993 bombing of the
World Trade Center. Yousef denied placing the airline bomb because he
was imprisoned at the time.
(SFC, 5/31/96, A4)
1994 The death penalty was
restored due to widespread crime.
(SFC, 1/19/99, p.A7)(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A13)
1994 A federal jury in Hawaii
awarded 9,539 victims and heirs $1.2 billion in “exemplary damages”
against the estate of former Philippine Pres. Ferdinand Marcos. In 1995
the same jury awarded the plaintiffs $766 million for injury
compensation. In 1996 an appeals court in San Francisco upheld the
verdict. In 1999 a $150 million settlement was reached with the funds
to come from Marcos funds in Swiss banks.
(SFC, 12/18/96, p.C4)(SFC, 2/25/99, p.A12)
1995 Jan 6, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and
Abdul Hakim Murad were arrested in Manila, Philippines, when explosives
that they were mixing blew up and alerted the police. In their
apartment were found bomb-making manuals and timers and evidence that
they intended to blow up US jetliners. They were found guilty by a jury
in New York on 9/5/96.
(SFC, 9/6/96, p.C5)
1995 Jan 13, Authorities in the
Philippines said they had unearthed a conspiracy by militant Muslims to
assassinate Pope John Paul II during his visit.
(AP, 1/13/00)
1995 Jan 14, Pope John Paul II
addressed a huge rally in Manila, urging young people to reject
cynicism.
(AP, 1/14/00)
1995 Jan 15, Pope John Paul II
celebrated a final Mass during his visit to the Philippines, drawing
millions of people.
(AP, 1/15/00)
1995 Apr, Abu Sayyaf rebels raided
the market town of Ipil. The looted banks, seized dozens of “human
shields,” and executed 54 villagers.
(WSJ, 9/25/01, p.A12)
1995 May, Larry Lee Hillblom,
co-founder and majority shareholder of DHL Corp., disappeared into the
Pacific Ocean in his World War II vintage seaplane. He was
conservatively valued at 500 million and willed most of his estate to a
charitable trust for medical research. $240 million was set aside for
medical research at UCSF. He named the Bank of Saipan as executor but
left behind a number of illegitimate children in the Philippines and
the Mariana Islands who are laying claim to his estate. In 1998 4
children won $90 million settlements each. Later it was learned that
many of his personal effects in Saipan were buried to avoid DNA tests
for paternity confirmation.
(WSJ, 5/15/96, p.A-1,8)(SFEC, 1/11/98, p.A1)(SFEC,
8/16/98, p.A1)
1995 Nov 3, Typhoon Angela killed
at least 500 people in the northern Philippines and 200 were reported
missing. Winds hit the main island of Luzon at 167 mph. Typhoon
“Angela” ripped through the Philippines, killing more than 880 people.
(WSJ,11/6/95, p.A-1)(AP, 11/3/00)
1995 Abu Sayyaf guerrillas (Bearer
of the Sword in Arabic), a small fundamentalist splinter group of the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front, massacred 53-54 people at Ipil near
Zamboanga del Norte. They were reportedly trained in Libya and fought
in Afghanistan.
(SFC, 5/6/00, p.A11)(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A10)
1995 Tropical storm Zack killed at
least 68 people and left thousands homeless. The storm struck hardest
on the islands of Negros and Panay.
(WSJ, 10/30/95, p.A-1)
1995 China seized Mischief Reef,
part of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, that were claimed
by the Philippines.
(WSJ, 3/5/97, p.A16)(Econ, 3/31/07, SR p.7)
1996 Mar 19, A fire at a Quezon
City nightclub in the Philippines killed at least 149 young people
celebrating the end of their school year.
(WSJ, 3/19/96, p.A-1)
1996 Mar (late), In a major mining
accident an estimated 3 million tons of tailings leaked from a drainage
tunnel of the Marcopper Mining Corp. and smothered the Boac River on
the island province of Marinduque.
(SFC, 6/2/96, p.A-12)
1996 Jun, Talks opened between the
government and Muslim rebels to end the 24-year conflict that has
killed 50,000 people in the southern islands.
(WSJ, 6/20/96, p.A1)
1996 Jun 23, a peace agreement was
reached with Muslim rebels. Opponents fear being under the
administration of former rebels.
(SFC, 7/3/96, p.C3)
1996 Jul 28, Typhoon Gloria struck
and killed at least 39 people on Luzon and left 16 missing.
(WSJ, 7/29/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 10, In the Philippines
Mount Canlaon erupted and killed 3 climbers. The mountain is one of 21
active volcanoes in the Philippines.
(SFC, 8/12/96, p.C1)
1996 Sep 2, In the Philippines an
accord was signed between pres. Ramos and Moro National Liberation
Front (MNLF) rebel leader Nur Misuari to end a 24-26 year Muslim
rebellion during which some 120,000 people were killed. Many Muslim
rebels of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) continued to
fight.
(WSJ, 8/20/96, p.A1)(SFC, 8/20/96, p.A9)(SFC,
9/2/96, p.A12)(AP, 9/2/97) (SFEM,12/21/97, p.23)(WSJ, 6/22/99, p.A19)
1996 Sep 24, About 3,000 slum
dwellers marched to the Presidential Palace in Manila to denounce the
demolition of their homes. Wrecking crews have destroyed about 3,000
shanties with 13,000 more scheduled for destruction before the Asia
Pacific Economic Conference on Nov 24.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.A10)
1996 Nov 15, Tropical storm Ernie
ravaged 14 provinces and killed 16 people.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.E4)
1996 Nov 20-1996 Nov 25, In the
Philippines the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum
(APEC) was to be held in Manila. APEC has 18 member countries and its
goal is to remove all trade barriers by 2020.
(SFC, 11/18/96, p.A12)(SFC, 11/23/96, p.A8)
1997 Feb 3, In the Philippines
Roman Catholic Bishop Benjamin de Jesus was shot to death in the city
of Cotaboto on Jolo Island.
(SFC, 2/4/97, p.A9)
1997 Apr 25, A fire at the New
Imperial Hotel in Cotabato City killed at least 24 people and scores
were injured.
(SFC, 4/26/97, p.A12)
1997 May 15, Pres. Fidel Ramos
visited California and planned to announce a pact with Oracle Corp. to
wire the country for long-distance phone service.
(SFC, 5/15/97, p.A21)
1997 May 31, It was reported that
torrential rains from Tropical Storm Levi killed at least 53 people.
(SFC, 5/31/97, p.A17)
1997 Jul 18, In the Philippines
the government signed a general cease-fire with the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front, the country's 2nd largest Muslim rebel group.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul, A $1.1 billion bailout
package was arranged. The government was obliged to raise interest
rates and run a budget surplus.
(SFC, 1/8/98, p.A7)
1997 Sep 13, In the Philippines
the Mount Pinukis volcano, 120 miles east of Zamboanga City, erupted
after being dormant since 1985.
(SFC, 9/13/97, p.A20)
1997 Sep 20, Pres. Ramos announced
that he would not run for re-election. A mass protest was staged the
next day anyway to prevent a change in the constitution that would
allow a 2nd term.
(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 20, Typhoon Ivan with 93
mph winds plowed into the northeastern Philippines.
(SFC,10/21/97, p.A13)
1997 Dec 12, In Switzerland the
high court told Swiss banks to send some $500 million in assets of the
late Ferdinand Marcos back to the Philippines.
(SFC,12/13/97, p.A14)
1998 Feb 2, In the Philippines a
Cebu Pacific Air DC-9 crashed on Mount Sumagaya as it approached for
landing at Cagayan de Oro. 104 people were onboard. Rescuers reached
the wreckage the next day but found no survivors.
(SFC, 2/3/98, p.A6)(SFC, 2/4/98, p.C3)
1998 Feb 6, Mayor Brown of SF left
for Manila and was expected to sign agreements with Mayor Alfredo Lim
for workshops on AIDS, student exchange programs, and other deals, and
celebrate 100 years of Philippine independence. Mayor Brown was to
continue on to Hanoi.
(SFC, 2/5/98, p.A18)
1998 Mar 22, A Philippine jetliner
overshot its runway on landing and hit a row of houses and a disco in
Bacolod. 3 people were killed and a hundred injured.
(WSJ, 3/23/98, p.A1)
1998 Mar 26, Imelda Marcos claimed
to have $800 million in foreign banks and promised to give it all to
the poor if she is elected in May.
(SFC, 3/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 29, Imelda Marco withdrew
from the presidential race.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A8)
1998 May 11, Elections for a new
president were held. Joseph Ejercito Estrada, a former actor known as
"Erap" (a Tagalog word for buddy), led the polls. He was opposed by
business groups and the Catholic Church. Estrada was declared the
winner on May 29.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)(SFC,
5/30/98, p.A10)(SFC, 7/6/99, p.A1)
1998 May 16, In the Philippines a
fire at the Lung Center of the Philippines, in a suburb of Manila,
killed at least 8 people and another 14 were presumed dead.
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 6, A strike by Philippine
Airline workers abruptly grounded all flights.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 30, Joseph Estrada took
his oath of office as the nation’s 13th president.
(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A10)
1998 Jul 5, Pres. Estrada
announced that a yacht would be equipped as an office to allow him to
spend months in the central Visayas and Mindanao regions.
(SFC, 7/6/98, p.A9)
1998 Sep 18, In the Philippines
the Princess of the Orient passenger ship sank south of Manila near
Fortune Island with 443 people on board. There were 311 confirmed
survivors. The sinking was blamed on a shift in cargo in heavy seas.
Rescue efforts continued off the Philippines for the Princess of the
Orient, a ferry which had sunk in a storm, leaving at least 70 people
dead and 80 others missing.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.A14)(SFEC, 9/20/98, p.A19)(WSJ,
9/21/98, p.A1)(AP, 9/18/08)
1998 Sep 23, Philippine Airlines
(b.1941) cancelled its last flight from San Francisco and shut down
operations due to financial problems. On Sep 28 Pres. Estrada announced
that the airline could reopen following a management agreement with its
largest union for a proposed rehabilitation plan.
(SFC, 9/24/98, p.A19)(SFC, 9/29/98, p.D1)
1998 Oct 14, In the Philippines
Typhoon Zeb killed 21 people and forced some 31,000 from their homes.
The death toll went up to 74.
(SFC, 10/15/98, p.C4)(WSJ, 10/19/98, p.A1)(SFC,
10/22/98, p.C5)
1998 Oct 21, Typhoon Babs killed 4
people in the central Philippines. Another 11 were killed on the
southern tip of Luzon. A total of 163 people were killed including 71
from landslides on Catanduanes Island.
(SFC, 10/22/98, p.C5)(WSJ, 10/23/98, p.A1)(SFC,
10/24/98, p.A12)(SFEC, 10/25/98, p.A20)(SFC, 10/26/98, p.A7)(SFC,
10/31/98, p.A8)
1998 Dec 3, In the Philippines a
fire burned the Catholic Bahay Kalinga orphanage in Manila and at least
28 people were killed including 23 children.
(SFC, 12/3/98, p.A21)(WSJ, 12/4/98, p.A1)
1998 The film Milagros was written
by Manila playwright Rolando S. Tinio and directed by Marilou
Diaz-Abaya. It was about a stripper forced to face family issues after
her father dies.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.E3)
1998 Abdujarak Abubakar Janjalani,
founder of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group, was killed by police in
Mindanao. The group’s leadership passed to his brother, Khadaffy
Janjalani.
(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A10)(WSJ, 9/11/00, p.A30)
1999 Jan 2, In the Philippines
rebels lobbed a grenade into a crowd watching firemen fight a fire on
Jolo Island and at least 10 people were killed and 74 injured. The Abu
Sayyaf guerrillas were believed to be responsible.
(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A22)(WSJ, 1/4/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 4, Philippine Pres.
Estrada signed a document as “Jose Velarde” to withdraw $10 million
from an undeclared account. In 2000 Clarissa Ocampo, vice president of
Equitable Bank, testified to the false papers before an impeachment
court.
(SFC, 12/23/00, p.A12)
1999 Feb 4, Leo Echegaray, a house
painter convicted of raping his 10-year stepdaughter, was executed by
lethal injection. It was the first execution there in 23 years.
(SFC, 2/5/99, p.A15)
1999 Feb 17, In the Philippines
Brigadier Gen'l. Victor Obillo was kidnapped by rebels of the New
People's Army in the Baguio district of Davao City.
(SFC, 2/18/99, p.A12)
1999 Feb, Some 60 people died in
skirmishes between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), led by
Hashim Salamat, and the army. Guerrilla resistance was based on
Mindanao and called for independence.
(WSJ, 6/22/99, p.A19)
1999 Apr 22, A mudslide in
Compostela Valley province left at least 14 people dead in the village
of Diwalwal.
(SFC, 4/24/99, p.A8)
1999 May 27, The Philippine Senate
ratified an accord with the US for joint military exercises.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.D3)
1999 May 28, It was reported that
an estimated 20,000 Ibaloi people on Luzon Island were in the way of a
new $1.2 billion San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam Project on the Agno River.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.A12)
1999 Jun 7, Elections were set for
this date.
(WSJ, 12/3/98, p.A1)
1999 Jul 25, Raul Manglapus,
former foreign secretary, writer, playwright, linguist and musician,
died at age 80.
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A17)
1999 Aug 3, Three days of rain in
the Manila area left 33 dead. At least 49 others died since the rains
began on Aug 1.
(SFC, 8/4/99, p.A8)(SFC, 8/5/99, p.A12)
1999 Aug 12, In the Philippines a
big explosion killed at least 7 people in Manila and damaged the
headquarters of the National Bureau of Investigation. Police later
blamed the explosion on dynamite that had been seized as evidence.
(WSJ, 8/13/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/14/99, p.12)(WSJ,
8/23/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 20, In Manila some
150,000 people protested economic changes in the constitution proposed
by Pres. Estrada.
(SFC, 8/21/99, p.A11)
1999 Sep, Ford Motor Co, planned
to begin operating a $110 million car-assembly plant in Laguna, 25
miles south of Manila.
(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.A9)
1999 Oct 6, Government officials
and Muslim separatists agreed to halt a series of deadly clashes in at
least 2 southern provinces, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, and to
start formal peace talks.
(SFC, 10/7/99, p.C2)
1999 Oct 7, In the Philippines
Typhoon Dan left at least 7 people dead and thousands of homes flooded.
This was the 13th typhoon to hit the Philippines this year.
(SFC, 10/8/99, p.A14)
1999 Nov 14, In the Philippines
Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels clashed with soldiers on Mindanao
and 2 people were killed in Tibao.
(SFC, 11/15/99, p.A19)
1999 Nov 18, In the southern
Philippines fighting between government troops and separatist rebels
left at least 32 dead.
(SFC, 11/19/99, p.D2)
1999 Nov 27, In the Philippines
the 10-nation ASEAN summit opened.
(SFEC, 11/28/99, p.A10)
1999 Nov 28, ASEAN leaders in the
Philippines agreed to increase cooperation with Japan, China and South
Korea in an "East Asia Forum" known as ASEAN+3 and to move toward a
common market.
(SFC, 11/29/99, p.A14)
1999 Nov 28, N.V.M. Gonzalez,
Philippine author and retired Cal. State Prof at Hayward, died in
Manila at age 84. His novels included "The Winds of April" (1941), "The
Bamboo Dancers," and "A Season of Grace."
(SFC, 12/14/99, p.B4)
1999 Dec 12-1999 Dec 17, A 6.8
earthquake hit the Philippines at Luzon and at least 5 people were
killed. A 4.8 earthquake struck Leyte province. In Manila a power
outage was caused by jellyfish sucked into water intakes of power
plants. The jelly fish pulled from cooling pumps filled 50 dump trucks.
(SFC, 12/18/99, p.A28)
1999 Dec 22, In the Philippines
the MV Asia South Korea ferry with 606 passengers sank southeast of
Manila near Bantayan Island and at least 9 people were killed. 58
people were missing.
(SFC, 12/23/99, p.C7)(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A11)
1999 In the Philippines residents
were scheduled to move into the Smoky Mountain housing project, built
over the accumulation of 50 years of Manila's waste. R-II Builders
constructed an elaborate ventilation system to divert methane from the
project. The project was built for the 10,000 scavengers who once lived
and worked in the area.
(WSJ, 8/5/99, p.A1)
1999 In the Philippines Pres.
Estrada suspended an air-rights pact with Taiwan. The deal helped his
friend Mr. Tan, the majority owner of Philippine Airlines. The rest of
the country suffered due to indirect routes to Taiwan.
(WSJ, 9/20/00, p.A6)
1999 In the Philippines Pres.
Estrada pocketed a $3.7 million commission from a state pension
investment brokered by Jaime Dichaves.
(SFC, 1/8/02, p.A7)
1999 The Philippines enacted the
Visiting Forces Agreement to let American soldiers back into the
country following the closures at Subic Bay and Clark Field.
(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A13)
2000 Feb 20, 2nd round talks
between the government and MILF separatists were cancelled. Government
troops had earlier begun a major offensive and captured a section of
Camp Omar in Maguindanao. Sporadic clashes ensued and dozens of people
were killed.
(SFC, 2/21/00, p.A14)
2000 Feb 24, In the Philippines
the Mayon volcano erupted on Luzon.
(SFC, 2/25/00, p.A16)
2000 Feb 26, In the southern
Philippines a series of bombings aboard Super Five Express Buses left
41 people dead and 45 injured. Muslim separatist rebels were suspected.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, p.A29)
2000 Mar 2, In the Philippines
some 40 rebels of the New People's Army killed 10 soldiers at Balilihan
in Bohol province.
(SFC, 3/3/00, p.D4)
2000 Mar 16, In the Philippines at
least 23 people were killed in clashes between rebels and army troops
in Lanao del Norte province.
(SFC, 3/18/00, p.C16)
2000 Mar 20, The Abu Sayyaf Muslim
rebel group seized over 50 hostages from 2 schools in Basilan province.
Most of the hostages were children. 2 teachers were released for ransom
on July 21.
(SFC, 4/18/00, p.A10)(SFC, 7/22/00, p.C1)
2000 Apr 8, Fighting erupted on
Mindanao when the army launched an offensive to dislodge rebels from 5
towns in Lanao del Norte province.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.T9)
2000 Apr 10, In the Philippines
government troops attacked Camp Bilai, a Muslim rebel camp of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front. A number of guerrillas were killed. 278
rebels and 18 soldiers had died in clashes over the last month.
(SFC, 4/11/00, p.D4)
2000 Apr 12, In the Philippines
the Arlahada ferryboat capsized after leaving Jolo and at least 56
people died. Another 100 were missing and feared dead. The death toll
later rose to 133.
(SFC, 4/13/00, p.A16)(WSJ, 4/17/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 16, In the Philippines at
least 4 people were killed when gunmen threw a grenade at police near a
crowded church following a mall robbery.
(WSJ, 4/17/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 17, Abu Sayyaf rebels on
Basilan Island threatened to kidnap and kill Americans if the US does
not release the men convicted for bombing the World Trade Center in New
York.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.T9)
2000 Apr 19, An Air Philippines
Boeing 737-200 jet crashed and all 131 people aboard were killed on
Samal Island following an attempted landing at Davao City. It was the
worst air crash in Philippine history
(SFC, 4/19/00, p.A1)(AP, 4/19/01)
2000 Apr 22, Some 1500 government
troops launched a rescue operation on Basilan Island to free the
hostages seized on Mar 20.
(SFC, 4/29/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 23, Philippine gunmen
abducted 20-21 people from a Malaysian resort on Sipadan Island.
Islamic insurgents took credit for the attack. They later freed 2
hostages and demanded $2.4 million in ransom for 19 captives. 6 were
released for hundreds of thousands in ransom on July 21. [see Aug 27]
(SFC, 4/25/00, p.A10)(WSJ, 4/27/00, p.A1)(SFC,
7/15/00, p.A13)(SFC, 7/22/00, p.C1)
2000 Apr 28, On Basilan Island
government troops gained control of the rebel stronghold after week of
fighting that left 6 soldiers were dead and 32 wounded. No hostages
were recovered.
(SFC, 4/29/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 29, Fighting on Basilan
Island left 4 soldiers dead and 27 wounded. On Sulu Island kidnappers
made a written demands that included the return of barter trade to the
southern Philippines, a ban on large fishing boats to protect local
fishermen, and full implementation of a 1976 agreement that called for
a 13-province Muslim autonomous region.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.C14)
2000 May 2, Rebels at Talipao
threatened to behead 2 hostages if military troops were not pulled back.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A12)
2000 May 3, In the southern
Philippines 2 hostages died as the military clashed with rebels under
Commander Robot (Ghalib Andang) at Talipao. On Basilan Island 15
hostages, 9 children and 6 teachers, were rescued and 4 were killed
when government troops engaged the rebels. At Zamboanga, Mindanao, the
MILF took some 100 hostages and at least 4 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A12)(SFC, 5/4/00, p.A16)(SFC,
5/5/00, p.A14)
2000 May 4, The e-mail virus “I
Love You” bug hit millions of computers around the world. It was
considered the most virulent, most damaging ($2.6 bil), most costly and
most rapidly spread virus to date. In Manila Onel de Guzman, a
former computing student, was later released with all charges dismissed
due to lack of evidence.
(SFC, 5/5/00, p.A1)(SFC, 5/6/00, p.A1)(SFC, 8/22/00,
p.A11)
2000 May 5, In The Philippines the
government and the MILF agreed to a 48-hour cease-fire on Mindanao.
(SFC, 5/6/00, p.A11)
2000 May 7, In the Philippines 13
soldiers and 3 rebels were killed in a clash on Basilan Island.
(SFC, 5/8/00, p.A13)
2000 May 8, Investigators arrested
a Manila bank employee, Reomel Ramones, suspected in the creation of
the “Love Bug” computer virus.
(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A1)
2000 May 9, Reomel Ramones,
suspect in the “Love Bug” computer virus case, was released due to lack
of evidence. His girlfriend, Irene de Guzman, failed to turn herself in
as promised.
(SFC, 5/10/00, p.A2)
2000 May 17, Islamic rebels asked
for $2 million for the freedom of ailing German hostage Renate Wallert.
They also issued written conditions that included the creation of an
independent Islamic state and a global probe into the plight of the
Muslim minority.
(SFC, 5/18/00, p.A11)(WSJ, 5/18/00, p.A1)
2000 May 21, In the Philippines
soldiers rescued 2 children held by hostages on Basilan. 7 hostages
still remained with Muslim rebels.
(SFC, 5/22/00, p.A11)
2000 May 28, Muslim guerrillas
staged 3 attacks and killed at least 15 people including 12 civilians
in the southern Philippines. Separately 26 people were arrested on
suspicion of involvement in the recent Manila bombings.
(SFC, 5/29/00, p.A14)
2000 Jun 2, Over 30 Moro rebels
were killed along with one government soldier in North Cotabato
province.
(SFC, 6/3/00, p.A12)
2000 Jun 23, The military captured
Camp Rajamuda, a guerrilla stronghold in Maguindanao and North Cotabato
provinces. The weeklong operation left 4 guerrillas and one soldier
dead.
(SFC, 6/24/00, p.A13)
2000 Jun 28, In the Philippines
Communist guerrillas killed 12 soldiers and an army brigade commander
in the town of Jones in northern Isabela province.
(SFC, 6/29/00, p.C6)
2000 Jul 5, In the Philippines the
army carried out a large offensive against Muslim separatists and
bombarded the 25,000-acre Camp Abubakar on southern Mindanao.
(SFC, 7/6/00, p.A13)
2000 Jul 7, Typhoon Kai Tak killed
at least 39 people in the Philippines and moved on to Japan.
(SFC, 7/8/00, p.A11)(WSJ, 7/10/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul 9, Government troops
captured the headquarters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front at Camp
Abubakar in Maguindanao province.
(SFC, 7/10/00, p.A10)
2000 Jul 10, In the Philippines a
garbage dump in Quezon City, a Manila suburb, collapsed and burst into
flames. At least 124 people were killed in the Lupang Pangako
shantytown at the Payatas dump. The camp was called the Promised Land.
200 were feared to have died.
(SFC, 7/11/00, p.A14)(WSJ, 7/111/00, p.A1)(SFC,
7/12/00, p.A10)(SFC, 7/13/00, p.C4)(SFC, 7/15/00, p.A24)
2000 Jul 22, Muslim rebels in the
southern Philippines ambushed a truck carrying workers for Maranao
Planters and killed 13 people, including 3 women and a 2-year-old boy.
14 were wounded.
(SFC, 7/24/00, p.A16)
2000 Aug 18, Three Malaysians were
released by Abu Sayyaf rebels.
(WSJ, 8/21/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 21, In the Philippines
rebels killed 17 army soldiers in Negros Occidental province.
(SFC, 8/22/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 24, Police found the
bodies of 5 truck drivers kidnapped 2 days earlier in Maguindanao
province.
(SFC, 8/25/00, p.D8)
2000 Aug 27, Kidnappers in the
southern Philippines released 6 foreign hostages for a reported $5
million in ransom. The 5 were part of a group of 21 kidnapped on Apr 23.
(SFC, 8/28/00, p.A11)
2000 Aug 28, Abu Sayyaf guerrillas
abducted Jeffrey Schilling (24), their first American hostage.
(SFC, 8/30/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 1, Abu Sayyaf rebels
demanded $10 million for the release of Jeffrey Schilling and later
said that Schilling had begun a hunger strike.
(SFC, 9/2/00, p.A12)
2000 Sep 8, Abu Sayyaf rebels
freed 4 more hostages held since April 23. Libya paid a reported $1
million per hostage. The hostages later reported that rebels had raped
female hostages.
(SFC, 9/9/00, p.A10)(SFEC, 9/10/00, p.C15)(SFC,
9/11/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 10, In Malaysia Abu
Sayyaf rebels kidnapped 3 men from Pandanan Island off Borneo and took
them to Jolo island in the Philippines.
(WSJ, 9/12/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 14, Guerrillas bombed 3
gas stations and lawmakers planned to undo economic reforms and
nationalize oil imports to cut soaring fuel costs.
(WSJ, 9/15/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 16, The military under
orders from Pres. Estrada staged a surprise attack on Abu Sayyaf rebels
on Jolo Island.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A1)(SFEC, 9/17/00, p.A2)
2000 Sep 17, Military forces said
6 Abu Sayyaf guerrillas were killed and 20 arrested. The pursuit
continued.
(SFC, 9/18/00, p.A8)
2000 Sep 19, A government court
ruled that nearly $627 million in Swiss bank deposits belonging to the
late dictator Ferdinand Marcos should go to the government.
(SFC, 9/20/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 20, Two French television
journalists were rescued from Abu Sayyaf rebels. 7 rebels were reported
killed and 20 captured after 5 days of fighting.
(SFC, 9/20/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 25, It was reported that
at least 3 civilians had been accidentally killed by soldiers in
pursuit of Abu Sayyaf rebels. Some 14,000 people were forced to flee
their homes.
(SFC, 9/25/00, p.A16)
2000 Sep 26, In the Philippines
the Supreme Court announced an 18-month sentence for Tommy Suharto for
corruption.
(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A15)
2000 Sep 26, Philippine Abu Sayyaf
rebels claimed to have escaped from Jolo Island.
(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A15)
2000 Sep 27, In the Philippines 10
people died after some 50 rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
attacked farmers and soldiers in Carmen village, North Cotabato
province.
(SFC, 9/29/00, p.D2)
2000 Sep 27, Jolo Island villagers
in Lapu dumped 3 Abu Sayyaf rebel bodies at a police station. 3
villagers were also killed in the fight with rebels.
(SFC, 9/28/00, p.C2)
2000 Oct 2, On Jolo Island
soldiers freed 12 Christian evangelists from Abu Sayyaf rebels after
one escaped and alerted the military. The guerrillas escaped with 5
remaining hostages.
(SFC, 10/3/00, p.A8)
2000 Oct 5, Pres Estrada presided
over the surrender of 600 Muslim rebels.
(WSJ, 10/6/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 9, Philippines Gov. Luis
Singson of Ilocos Sur province charged that Pres. Estrada received over
$11 million in payoffs, mostly from illegal gambling.
(SFC, 10/10/00, p.A13)
2000 Oct 10, Military officials
said 15 Abu Sayyaf rebels surrendered in Talipao town on Jolo Island.
129 guerrillas were reported killed and 53 captured during the recent
assault on Jolo.
(SFC, 10/11/00, p.A4)
2000 Oct 14, Philippine troops
arrested 36 suspected supporters of Abu Sayyaf rebels and 6 others
surrendered on Jolo Island.
(SFC, 10/16/00, p.F8)
2000 Oct 18, In the Philippines
opposition legislators filed a resolution for the impeachment of Pres.
Estrada for taking bribes. Some 15,000 people massed in Manila and
called for Estrada’s resignation.
(SFC, 10/19/00, p.A17)
2000 Oct 19, In the Philippines at
least 9 people were reported killed and 11 wounded in several attacks
by the MILF.
(SFC, 10/20/00, p.D8)
2000 Oct 24, A rebel commander and
18 followers surrendered on Jolo Island.
(SFC, 10/25/00, p.A16)
2000 Oct 25, Three Malaysian
hostages held by rebels were rescued on Jolo Island.
(SFC, 10/25/00, p.A16)(SFC, 10/26/00, p.D8)
2000 Oct 29, In the Philippines
Typhoon Xangsane left 14 dead on Luzon and moved toward China.
(WSJ, 10/30/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 2, Pres. Estrada offered
to let voters decide his future in a referendum as more members of his
cabinet resigned.
(SFC, 11/3/00, p.A18)
2000 Nov 4, Tens of thousands
rallied in Manila for Pres. Estrada to resign.
(SFEC, 11/5/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 9, Perfecto Yasay, the
former SEC Chairman, charged that Pres. Estrada forced him to resign.
Yasay had accused the president of attempting to influence an
investigation of an Estrada friend. Yasay had also tried to block the
sale of a controlling stake in Philippine Long Distance Telephone for
which Estrada received a $20 million kickback.
(SFC, 11/10/00, p.D2)
2000 Nov 10, A landslide buried 11
children in Kabugao, Apayao province.
(SFC, 11/11/00, p.C18)
2000 Nov 13, The House of
Representatives approved an impeachment trial to address corruption
charges against Pres. Estrada.
(SFC, 11/14/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 14, Some 20,000 marched
in Manila for the ouster of Pres. Estrada.
(SFC, 11/15/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 20, Senators presented
Pres. Estrada a 270-page articles of impeachment for corruption and
constitutional violations.
(SFC, 11/21/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 24, In the Philippines
Salvador "Bubby" Dacer, a publicist who represented top political
figures, was kidnapped and later killed along with his driver. Police
boss Sen. Panfilo Lacson was later linked to the killing. In 2009 Cesar
Mancao, a former senior Philippine police official accused of the
double homicide, was extradited from the US after agreeing to testify
in the case.
(AP,
6/4/09)(http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/3133909)
2000 Nov 25, Military troops
retook Camp Bushra in Lanao del Sur province and reported 10 rebels
killed. The rebels reported 22 military casualties.
(SFC, 11/27/00, p.A8)
2000 Nov 28, At least 8 people
were killed when government forces clashed with a group that abducted
Marilyn Tiu, the wife of a businessman in Zamboanga del Sur province.
(SFC, 11/30/00, p.C7)
2000 Dec 9, It was reported that
Tropical Storm Rumbia had killed at least 29 people in the Philippines.
(SFC, 12/9/00, p.D8)
2000 Dec 10, Pres. Estrada
announced that he would order the commutation of all death sentences to
life imprisonment.
(SFC, 12/11/00, p.F8)
2000 Dec 14, In the southern
Philippines Muslim extremists killed 3 passengers on a motorcycle taxi.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.D11)
2000 Dec 30, In the Philippines 5
bomb blasts hit Manila and at least 22 people were killed. Muslim
rebels were blamed. One of bombs was on a train and killed at least 13.
Police arrested 17 men on Jan 4. 7 Muslim guerrillas were indicted
including Salamat Hashim, chairman of the Moro Liberation Front. The
Jemaah Islamiyah, an militant group linked to al Qaeda, was involved in
the train bombing. In 2009 three men, including one of the Philippines'
top terror suspects, were sentenced to life in prison for one of the
bombings that killed 11 people. The attacks revealed close coordination
among militants across the region.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A1)(SFC, 12/31/00, p.A1)(SFC,
1/5/01, p.D3)(SFC, 1/9/01, p.A15)(WSJ, 8/13/02, p.A14)(AP, 1/23/09)
2001 Jan 15, In the Philippines
flooding of the Balugo River and tributaries drove some 12,000 people
from their homes.
(SFC, 1/16/01, p.A10)
2001 Jan 16, The prosecution
against Pres. Estrada quit after the Senate voted to deny access to
crucial evidence.
(SFC, 1/17/01, p.A10)
2001 Jan 20, Pres. Estrada stepped
down as tens of thousands, united by cell phone messages, marched on
his residence. Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (53), daughter of
former pres. Diosdado Macapagal, took over power.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A1,12)
2001 Jan 26, Pres. Arroyo forced
her Cabinet ministers to sign an 8-point “covenant” that included
pledges to show “respect for others,” live a simple lifestyle and focus
on the poor.
(SFC, 1/27/01, p.A14)
2001 Feb 6, Pres. Arroyo named
Sen. Teofisto Guingona as her vice president. Former pres. Estrada
filed a suit disputing the legal basis for Arroyo’s presidency.
(SFC, 2/7/01, p.A12)
2001 Feb 7, Citizens filed a
lawsuit against former Pres. Estrada to seize some $400 million in
unexplained wealth and give it to the government.
(SFC, 2/8/01, p.C3)
2001 Feb 19, Pres. Arroyo
announced a cease-fire with southern separatists. She hoped Mindanao
rebels would reciprocate. Separately 10 people drowned and a dozen were
missing when their illegal ferry capsized as they tried to reach
Malaysia for work.
(SFC, 2/20/01, p.A9)
2001 Mar 2, The Supreme Court
affirmed the legitimacy of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and denied
immunity to former Pres. Estrada.
(SFC, 3/3/01, p.A12)
2001 Mar 15, Ten police officers
were sentenced to death for accepting $13,265 in bribes from alleged
drug dealers in 1999.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A16)
2001 Apr 5, Former Pres. Estrada
was indicted for allegedly pocketing $82 million in kickbacks and
payoffs over his 2 ½ years in office.
(SFC, 4/6/01, p.D6)
2001 Apr 7, Manila went dark for
14 hours when a transmission line overloaded and cut power to 35
million people.
(WSJ, 4/9/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 12, Government troops
raided the Abu Sayyaf rebel camp on Jolo Island and freed Jeffrey
Schilling. Some of the rebels were killed and others wounded.
(SFC, 4/13/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 16, Former Pres. Estrada
turned himself in on an arrest warrant and was released on bond. 5 of 8
charges were dropped the next day in order to concentrate on his
corruption case.
(SFC, 4/18/01, p.A13)
2001 Apr 24, Former Pres. Joseph
Estrada was ordered to be arrested on charges of plunder.
(SFC, 4/25/01, p.A8)
2001 Apr 25, Ousted Philippine
President Joseph Estrada became the country's first leader to be
arrested for alleged corruption in office. Estrada was jailed on 8
charges.
(SFC, 4/26/01, p.A12)(AP, 4/25/02)
2001 Apr 30, In the Philippines
the army went on alert after Cardinal Sin urged people into the streets
to defend democracy and Pres. Arroyo from defenders of former Pres.
Estrada. Some 20,000 followers of Estrada tried to storm the
presidential palace and at least 4 people were killed.
(SFC, 4/30/01, p.A8)(SFC, 5/1/01, p.A8)(WSJ, 5/1/01,
p.A1)
2001 May 1, In the Philippines
Pres. Arroyo declared a “state of rebellion” and ordered the arrest of
2 senators and several military officials loyal to former Pres.
Estrada. Some 40,000 protesters marched on Malacanang Palace and 3
people were killed.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/3/01, p.B1)
2001 May 6, Pres. Arroyo lifted
the “state of rebellion” order.
(SFC, 5/7/01, p.C1)
2001 May 14, Midterm elections
were held for half the Senate and the entire House of Representatives
and 17,600 municipal and provincial posts. The Communist associated
Nation First Party won 3 seats.
(SFC, 5/14/01, p.A9)(SFC, 8/21/01, p.A6)
2001 May 15, Gunmen killed a
policeman and stole ballot boxes as voting continued. Arroyo’s party
held a flimsy lead.
(WSJ, 5/16/01, p.A1)
2001 May 22, Two workers were
killed at the Pearl Farms resort on Samal Island during an attack by
suspected Muslim rebels. Guards repulsed the attack.
(SFC, 5/24/01, p.C3)
2001 May 24, Muslim rebels
kidnapped 40 people traveling from Basilan to Babuan Island.
(SFC, 5/26/01, p.A10)
2001 May 27, Gunmen abducted 21
people from the Dos Palmas Island Resort in Palawan province,
Philippines. Guillermo Sobero from Corona, Ca., was one of the 3
abducted Americans. The Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility. Sobero was
later beheaded. Missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham were among the
kidnapped. A $300,000 ransom for the Burnhams was paid in 2002, but the
rebels then asked for $200,000 more. [see Jun 7, 2002]
(SSFC, 5/27/01, p.A12)(SFC, 5/29/01, p.A8)(SFC,
10/25/01, p.C2)(SFC, 11/27/01, p.A6)(SFC, 4/27/02, p.A11)
2001 Jun 2, Government forces
engaged Muslim separatists at Lamitan on Basilan Island. At least 12
soldiers were killed in 2 days of fighting. New hostages were reported
taken. It was later reported that army officers accepted bribes to
allow Abu Sayyaf rebels to escape.
(SFC, 6/2/01, p.A8)(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A16)(SFC,
8/25/01, p.A9)
2001 Jun 12, On Basilan Island
Muslim rebels claimed to have beheaded Guillermo Sobero of Corona, Ca.,
one of the hostages kidnapped May 27.
(SFC, 6/12/01, p.A8)(SFC, 6/13/01, p.D4)
2001 Jun 14, Francis Ganzon, a
Muslim cleric, and Kimberly Jao (13) were released by Abu Sayyaf rebels
on Basilan Island. Mohaimin Sahi, a Muslim cleric negotiator taken
captive a few days earlier, was also released.
(SSFC, 6/17/01, p.A13)
2001 Jun 21, On Zamboanga 3
severed heads were found in the area where Muslim extremists claimed to
have killed Guillermo Sobero of Riverside, Ca.
(SFC, 6/22/01, p.A15)
2001 Jun 22, The Philippine
government signed a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front.
(SFC, 6/23/01, p.A9)
2001 Jun 24, In Legazpi the Mayon
volcano erupted and at least 7,000 villagers fled their homes.
(SFC, 6/25/01, p.A9)
2001 Jun, The US indicted 5
Philippine Abu Sayyaf leaders including Hamsiraji Sali and Khadaffy
Janjalany for the May 27 kidnapping of 3 Americans.
(SFC, 4/9/04, p.A3)
2001 Jul 3, At Zamboanga Abu
Sayyaf rebels freed 2 hostages and warned the government to withdraw
from Muslim-majority islands or face more kidnappings.
(SFC, 7/4/01, p.A12)
2001 Jul 3, In the Philippines 53
people were left dead in landslides from Typhoon Utor as the storm
moved toward Taiwan.
(WSJ, 7/5/01, p.A1)(SFC, 7/6/01, p.D3)
2001 Jul 8, Police in General
Santos City arrested Nadzmie Sabtulah, a high-ranking member of the Abu
Sayyaf Muslim extremists.
(SFC, 7/9/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 2, Abu Sayyaf extremists
seized 36 Filipinos civilians on Basilan island and beheaded 10 of them.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.A6)(SSFC, 8/5/01, p.A14)
2001 Aug 4, Philippine soldiers
rescued 13 hostages of the 36 seized by Abu Sayyaf rebels on Aug 2.
(SSFC, 8/5/01, p.A14)
2001 Aug 7, The Islamic and
National fronts signed a separate unity pact to bridge their 23-year
split. Muslim separatists agreed to a cease-fire with the government.
Only the Abu Sayyaf was left fighting the government.
(SFC, 8/8/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 18, A pre-dawn fire swept
through the Manor Hotel in Quezon City and at least 68 people, trapped
behind security bars, were killed
(SFC, 8/18/01, p.A10)
2001 Oct 1, The trial of former
Pres. Estrada had a brief start and was postponed to Oct 17. Estrada
showed up against his will, without his legal team and clad in slippers.
(SFC, 10/2/01, p.A10)
2001 Oct 4, Government forces
captured 13 members of Abu Sayyaf and killed another in a southern
clash.
(SFC, 10/5/01, p.D6)
2001 Oct 17, Gunmen abducted an
Italian priest, Giuseppe Pierantoni (45), in Dimataling, Zamboanga del
Sur. He was freed Apr 8, 2002.
(WSJ, 10/18/01, p.A1)(SFC, 4/8/02, p.A7)
2001 Oct 23, In the Philippines 6
suspected Muslim rebels surrendered and 3 were captured.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.C2)
2001 Oct 23, US military officers
were sent to the Philippines to assess how the US might help the local
war against terrorism.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A13)
2001 Oct 28, In Zamboanga a bomb
exploded at a food court and at least 6 people were killed. Abu Sayyaf
rebels were blamed.
(SFC, 10/29/01, p.A9)
2001 Oct 30, Marvin Deonzon (27)
was arrested following the weekend bomb attack. Deonzon claimed to be
part of the al Qaeda network and warned of another 40 bombs planted
around Zamboanga.
(WSJ, 11/1/01, p.A17)
2001 Nov 7, In the Philippines
tropical storm Lingling left at least 68 people dead from floods and
landslides.
(SFC, 11/8/01, p.A20)
2001 Nov 8, In the Philippines the
toll from tropical storm Lingling climbed to at least 350 people. The
storm left more than 200 dead and moved to Vietnam.
(SFC, 11/9/01, p.A18)(WSJ, 11/9/01, p.A1)(SFC,
11/13/01, p.A14)(AP, 11/8/02)
2001 Nov 17, Communist guerrillas
opened fire on soldiers in Cateel town. 18 soldiers and 10 rebels were
killed.
(SFC, 11/19/01, p.A14)
2001 Nov 19, Moro rebels attacked
the army near Jolo town. 4 soldiers were killed along with 51 rebels in
a counterattack.
(SFC, 11/20/01, p.A17)
2001 Nov 22, The military bombed
rebel positions on Jolo island and hunted for supporters of Gov. Nur
Misuari, who was charged with rebellion. At least 100 of Misuari’s men
were reported killed since the Nov 19 attack.
(SFC, 11/23/01, p.A19)
2001 Nov 27, The military reported
25 guerrillas killed along with 1 soldier in Zamboanga. Rebels under
Julhambri Misuari, nephew of arrested Gov. Misuari, later released 89
hostages in exchange for safe passage out of Zamboanga.
(SFC, 11/28/01, p.A3)
2001 Dec 23, Police rescued a
Canadian hostage, Pierre Belanger (51), held for 2 months by the
Pentagon gang in the village of Buena Vista.
(SFC, 12/24/01, p.A4)
2001 Dec 29, Philippine troops
raided a camp of Muslim rebels linked to Osama bin Laden and killed 13.
(WSJ, 12/31/01, p.A1)
2001 Louis H. Francia, NY poet and
journalist, authored “Eye of the Fish,” a record of his Philippine
travels.
(SSFC, 8/19/01, DB p.67)
2002 Jan 9, In the Philippines
Gen. Diomedio Villanueva said some 100 US military advisers will be
allowed to join front-line Philippine troops fighting Abu Sayyaf rebels.
(SFC, 1/10/02, p.A8)
2002 Jan 15, Philippine police
arrested Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi of Indonesia, an alleged bomb-maker in
an al Qaeda linked terrorist cell. Ghozi admitted to providing
munitions and financing for the Dec 30, 2000, attack in Manila that
killed 22.
(WSJ, 1/21/02, p.A10)
2002 Jan 15, In the Philippines 15
people were killed in a shootout between Muslim demonstrators and
police in Jolo.
(SFC, 1/16/02, p.A7)
2002 Jan 31, US troops began a
6-month exercise for Filipino soldiers on Zamboanga, who were hunting
Abu Sayyaf extremists.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.A24)
2002 Feb 6, The Philippine
opposition made a legal move that gave Pres. Arroyo 10 days to justify
the presence of US troops.
(SFC, 2/7/02, p.A12)
2002 Feb 21, A US MH-47E Chinook
helicopter with 10 soldiers crashed into the Mindanao Sea in the
Philippines. 3 bodies were found by local fishermen. A salvage team
found 5 more bodies Mar 30.
(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A17)(SFC, 2/23/02, p.A14)(SSFC,
3/29/02, p.A17)
2002 Mar 5, In the Philippines a
6.8 earthquake struck about 10 miles under the sea some 147 miles
southwest of General Santos and 4 people were killed.
(SFC, 3/6/02, p.A8)
2002 Mar 12, Munib Assa, a senior
Abu Sayyaf guerrilla, was arrested in Zamboanga.
(SFC, 3/15/02, p.A12)
2002 Mar, Levi Celerio (91),
national artist and composer (leaf player), died.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A19)
2002 Apr 11, The ferry MV Carmela
with 240 passengers caught fire and at least 15 people were killed.
(SFC, 4/11/02, p.A8)
2002 Apr 21, In the Philippines 3
explosions killed at least 14 people in General Santos. Abu Sayyaf
rebels claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 4/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr, In the Philippines
Benjaline Hernandez (22) was killed on Mindanao while teaching peasant
children and helping victims of the low-level conflict between the
Philippine army and the communist New People’s Army. He mother later
insisted that she was killed by gunmen from a government-supported
militia.
(SSFC, 2/25/07, p.A15)
2002 May 2, Salip Abdullah, a key
aide to Abu Sayyaf chief Janjalini, was captured in Labangal village
near General Santos.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A10)
2002 May 22, Philippine police in
Cotabato city arrested Noor Mohammad Umog, a Muslim Abu Sayyaf leader.
(SFC, 5/24/02, p.A16)
2002 May 29, The US offered a
reward for as much as $5 million for the capture of Abu Sayyaf leaders
in the Philippines.
(SFC, 5/30/02, p.A10)
2002 May 30, It was reported that
dynamite fishing in the Philippines has put the native coral reefs on
the verge of collapse.
(SFC, 5/30/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun 7, In the Philippines a
yearlong hostage crisis came to an end as Martin Burnham, an American
missionary, was killed along with Philippine nurse Ediborah Yap when
troops stormed an Abu Sayyaf outpost on Mindanao. Burnham's wife,
Gracia Burnham, was wounded.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.A1)(AP, 6/7/07)
2002 Jun 16, Philippine troops
shot dead one Muslim rebel and wounded an unknown number in their first
clash with the guerrillas since an American hostage was killed in a
rescue operation more than a week ago.
(Reuters, 6/16/02)
2002 Jun 19, In the Philippines
witnesses reported that 17 people were killed in a shootout between
members of a cult and security forces moving in to arrest their leader
on a remote southern Philippine island.
(Reuters, 6/19/02)
2002 Jun 21, Abu Sabaya (Aldam
Tilao), one of the Philippines' most wanted Muslim rebels and the key
man in last year's kidnapping of a U.S. missionary couple, was
reportedly shot and likely killed in a clash with government troops.
(Reuters, 6/21/02)(SFC, 6/22/02, p.A6)
2002 Jun 27, Muslim guerrillas
killed a Philippine army officer and wounded five soldiers in a
gunbattle on a southern island where three Indonesian seamen have been
held hostage for more than a week.
(Reuters, 6/27/02)
2002 Jul 1, Philippine government
forces using bomber planes and helicopters attacked suspected Muslim
rebel positions in the southern Philippines, inflicting an undetermined
number of casualties.
(Reuters, 7/1/02)
2002 Jul 2, Philippine Vice
President Teofisto Guingona resigned as foreign minister, settling but
perhaps not ending a public row with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
over U.S. military exercises in the south of the country.
(Reuters, 7/2/02)
2002 Jul 8, Typhoon Chata'an
headed towards southern Japan after battering the Philippines, where
officials said it had killed 17 people -- including three South Korean
tourists who died when their boat capsized.
(Reuters, 7/8/02)
2002 Jul 9, Philippine officials
said they had arrested a Filipino Muslim suspected of helping to
procure more than a ton of explosives for al Qaeda-linked Islamic
radicals accused of plotting to bomb U.S. targets in Singapore. A
U.S-trained Philippine soldier and an undetermined number of Muslim
rebels were killed in fierce fighting on southern Jolo island.
(Reuters, 7/9/02)
2002 Jul 15, Philippine gunmen
shot dead four supporters of candidates as Filipinos voted in local
community elections after a bloody campaign that left scores of people
dead. The 90 day election campaign left 71 people dead.
(Reuters, 7/15/02)
2002 Jul 21, In the Philippines 3
people drowned in floods and a landslide buried alive a family of three
as heavy rains pummeled the main island of Luzon, including Manila.
(Reuters, 7/21/02)
2002 Jul 30, In the Philippines
some 2,000 leftist protestors slammed a U.S.-led anti-terror exercise,
ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Colin Powell for talks on
combating terrorism.
(Reuters, 7/30/02)
2002 Aug 3, Philippine troops
captured seven suspected members of the Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrilla
group said to be linked to al Qaeda.
(AP, 8/4/02)
2002 Aug 7, In the Philippines
Marxist rebels vowed all-out resistance against the government's
renewed campaign to crush their revolt after President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo ordered the deployment of troops in their strongholds.
(Reuters, 8/7/02)
2002 Aug 22, In the Philippines
the heads of two Jehovah’s Witnesses were found at Patikul on Jolo
island, two days after the Abu Sayyaf rebels seized the two male
preachers and six other hostages.
(Reuters, 8/22/02)(SFC, 8/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 23, An anti-graft court
in the Philippines froze the assets of former president Joseph Estrada
in connection with charges that he illegally amassed over four billion
pesos ($76.48 million) during his 31-month rule.
(Reuters, 8/26/02)
2002 Aug 25, Philippine troops
shot dead a notorious leader of a gang of kidnappers and rescued a girl
(4) and her nanny from a week-long captivity.
(Reuters, 8/25/02)
2002 Aug 25, Up to 10 guerrillas
from a Philippine Marxist rebel group blacklisted by the United States
were killed when the military clashed with a 40-man New People's Army
(NPA) band in Rodriguez town, a Manila suburb.
(AP, 8/26/02)
2002 Sep 8, Philippine troops
shelled retreating Muslim guerrillas after capturing two rebel camps in
fighting on southern Jolo island that left at least 22 dead.
(Reuters, 9/8/02)
2002 Oct 2, In the Philippines a
bomb killed an American soldier in Zamboanga and was detonated by a
Filipino on a motorcycle who died in the blast that killed one other
person.
(Reuters, 10/3/02)(WSJ, 10/4/02, p.A1)
2002 Oct 10, In the southern
Philippines a bomb ripped through a bus terminal in Kidapawan City in
North Cotobato province, killed 6 people and wounding 2 dozen in the
latest of a series of bomb attacks in the violence-hit region.
(Reuters, 10/10/02)(SFC, 10/12/02, p.A11)
2002 Oct 11, The Philippine
military reported that marines clashed with Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo
Island and at least 11 soldiers were killed.
(SSFC, 10/12/02, p.A20)
2002 Oct 12, Seven Filipino
soldiers died and 25 others were wounded in a fierce clash with Muslim
rebels deep in the jungle of southern Sulu island.
(Reuters, 10/12/02)
2002 Oct 13, Philippine troops
pounded Muslim guerrilla positions with bombs and cannon fire, killing
20 rebels, as fighting raged for the second day in the country's
troubled south.
(AP, 10/12/02)
2002 Oct 17, In the Philippines
bombings in Zamboanga killed 7 people and injured 152. Militants of Abu
Sayyaf were suspected.
(SFC, 10/18/02, p.A10)
2002 Oct 18, In the Philippines a
bomb ripped through a bus in Quezon City, a Manila suburb,
killing 2 people and injuring 20 others.
(AP, 10/18/02)(SFC, 10/19/02, p.A12)
2002 Oct 20, In the Philippines a
bomb exploded at an open-air Christian shrine in the southern city of
Zamboanga, killing one marine and wounding 16 people.
(Reuters, 10/20/02)
2002 Nov 4, China signed a
landmark agreement with Southeast Asian countries (Brunei, Malaysia,
Philippines, Vietnam) on avoiding open conflict in the disputed South
China Sea Spratly Islands. Indonesia objected and Taiwan was barred
from signing.
(Reuters, 11/4/02)(Econ, 5/22/04, p.40)
2002 Nov 6, Muslim guerrillas
strafed a southern Philippine village with automatic rifle fire,
killing seven people in retaliation for an offensive by troops.
(Reuters, 11/7/02)
2002 Nov 11, In the Philippines a
Fokker passenger plane, trailing smoke from its left engine, plunged
into Manila Bay shortly after taking off from Manila, with 18 of the 34
people aboard killed or missing and presumed dead.
(AP, 11/11/02)
2002 Nov 13, Philippine Muslim
gunmen linked to the al Qaeda network have demanded a ransom of 16
million pesos ($300,000) for their seven Indonesian and Filipino
hostages kidnapped in June and August.
(AP, 11/13/02)
2002 Nov 21, The United States and
the Philippines signed a controversial agreement which would allow U.S.
forces to use the Asian country as a supply point for military
operations.
(AP, 11/21/02)
2002 Nov 24, Philippine communist
rebels killed four soldiers when about 30 rebels opened fire on a
military convoy returning to base from a mission.
(Reuters, 11/25/02)
2002 Nov 25, Philippine communist
rebels, fleeing pursuing soldiers, torched a mobile phone relay station
at Puerto Galera, a resort close to the capital Manila which is one of
the country's best-known scuba diving spots.
(Reuters, 11/25/02)
2002 Dec 24, In the southern
Philippines a bomb believed planted by Muslim Moro rebels killed 16
people, including Mayor Saudie Ampatuan in Datu Piang.
(AP, 12/24/02)(SFC, 12/25/02, p.A16)(WSJ, 12/26/02,
p.A1)
2002 Dec 26, In the southern
Philippines suspected Muslim rebels killed 12 workers as they rode in a
truck to a Canadian-owned mine. Extortion was suspected.
(WSJ, 12/27/02, p.A1)
2002 The Philippine budget deficit
was 5.4% of GDP.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.72)
2002 Philippine mineral reserves
were estimated at $840 billion.
(Econ, 7/22/06, p.63)
2003 Jan 11, Philippine army
troops have occupied a southern mountain village in Sultan Kudarat
province after driving away a large group of Moro Islamic separatists
and a kidnap gang in fierce clashes that killed at least 20 rebels and
allies.
(AP, 1/12/03)
2003 Feb 2, In the Philippines a
two-hour gun battle involving about 70 New People's Army rebels killed
two soldiers and five rebels near the town of Baganga in the southern
Davao Oriental province.
(AP, 2/2/03)
2003 Feb 8, Philippine troops
killed at least eight Abu Sayyaf rebels during a clash with the
guerrillas in the southern town of Patikul.
(AP, 2/9/03)
2003 Feb 19, In the
southern Philippines suspected separatist rebels attacked Poblacion.
They rounded up some villagers and gunned down 14 people.
(AP, 2/20/03)
2003 Feb 20, Pentagon
officials said they will send over 1,700 US troops to the Philippines
over the next few weeks to fight Muslim extremists.
(SFC, 2/21/03, A1)
2003 Feb 23, The Philippine
government said it will not permit U.S. forces to join Filipino troops
in combat against Muslim extremists.
(AP, 2/23/03)
2003 Mar 4, In the
Philippines a bomb hidden in a backpack exploded at the Davao airport
on Mindanao, killing 21 people and wounding some 150.
(AP, 3/4/03)(SFC, 3/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 10, In the
southern Philippines suspected Muslim separatist rebels seized a bus,
and two people were killed before the gunmen escaped.
(AP, 3/10/03)
2003 Mar 25, Philippine troops
killed a senior commander of the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group in a
raid on his hideout.
(AP, 3/26/03)
2003 Mar 29, In the Philippines
troops clashed with communist guerrillas in a hilly area near the
capital, and at least 24 were people killed.
(AP, 3/30/03)
2003 Apr 2, In the southern
Philippine city of Davao a bomb exploded near a bustling wharf, and
killed 16 people including two children.
(AP, 4/3/03)(SFC, 4/3/03, p.A11)
2003 Apr 5, In the southern
Philippines two bombings killed two people and wounded eight.
(AP, 4/5/03)
2003 Apr 13, In the southern
Philippines some 40 Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters attacked
soldiers in Barira. The firefight left 12 guerrillas and possibly 3
soldiers dead.
(SFC, 4/15/03, p.A5)
2003 Apr 18, At least 13 Filipino
devotees were nailed to wooden crosses north of Manila in an annual
Good Friday re-enactment of Jesus Christ's crucifixion.
(AP, 4/18/03)
2003 Apr 25, The Philippines
reported its first deaths from SARS; Taiwan authorities quarantined
over 1,100 doctors, nurses and patients in a hospital and Asian health
chiefs met on ways to tackle the deadly flu-like disease.
(Reuters, 4/25/03)
2003 May 4, In the Philippines
Muslim guerrillas attacked the town of Siocon in the southern province
of Zamboanga del Norte, and took hostages as they withdrew from
fighting that killed at least 22 people.
(AP, 5/4/03)
2003 May 10, In the Philippines a
bomb exploded at a crowded market in a southern Koronadal city, killing
at least 9 people with 41 injured. Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility.
(AP, 5/11/03)
2003 May 18, In the Philippines
the Manila Water Co dumped large doses of the disinfectant into a
reservoir serving the eastern part of the capital after the young man
fell into an aqueduct while picking fruit.
(Reuters, 5/20/03)
2003 May 25, In the Philippines a
passenger ferry collided with a larger boat and sank at the mouth of
Manila Bay. At least 23 people were killed and 198 were rescued.
(AP, 5/25/03)
2003 May 28, In the southern
Philippines Muslim rebels declared a cease-fire and gave the government
10 days to meet their demands or face renewed fighting.
(AP, 5/28/03)
2003 May 29, Tropical Storm Linfa
moved northeast of the Philippines toward Japan on Thursday after
leaving at least 25 people dead and more than 8,000 displaced following
five days of heavy rains and flooding.
(AP, 5/29/03)
2003 May 31, Clashes between
Philippine troops and Muslim separatist guerrillas left at least 23
dead, just days before a 10-day unilateral cease-fire was set to begin.
(AP, 5/31/03)
2003 Jul 10, In the southern
Philippines a bomb exploded in a crowded market, killing at least three
people and injuring 26 others, including many children.
(AP, 7/10/03)
2003 Jul 14, In Manila Fathur
Rohman al-Ghozi, terror suspect, escaped from prison.
(Econ, 7/19/03, p.34)
2003 Jul 17, Philippine president
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said that police corruption likely led to the
escape from prison of three terror suspects, including a top bomb
expert, and threatened to shake up the police force.
(AP, 7/17/03)
2003 Jul 18, The Philippine
government announced a cease-fire deal with a Muslim rebel group.
(AP, 7/18/03)
2003 Jul 22, Typhoon Imbudo, the
strongest in 5 years, hit the Philippines with winds of more than 100
mph. At least six people were killed.
(AP, 7/23/03)
2003 Jul 27, In Manila some 300
mutinous Philippine troops, who seized a downtown residential shopping
complex, surrendered. This ended a 19-hour standoff with government
forces without a shot fired. Pres. Arroyo declared a state of
rebellion, which lasted to Aug 11. In 2008 Arroyo pardoned 9 military
officers who apologized after being convicted of the coup.
(AP, 7/27/03)(WSJ, 8/12/03, p.A1)(AP, 5/12/08)
2003 Aug 10, In the southern
Philippines army troops searching for a suspected Islamic militant
clashed with unidentified men, killing three gunmen.
(AP, 8/10/03)
2003 Aug 15, Philippine army
forces in a speedboat killed 4 suspected members of Abu Sayyaf, an
extremist Muslim group, in a clash at sea after getting a tip from
fishermen.
(AP, 8/17/03)
2003 Sep 13, In the southern
Philippines soldiers killed two suspected members of the Muslim
extremist Abu Sayyaf group and seized pictures of al-Qaida chief Osama
bin Laden and documents in Arabic language after storming a rebel camp.
(AP, 9/13/03)
2003 Oct 7, In the Philippines a
detained Muslim terror suspect grabbed a guard's rifle and opened fire
at police headquarters in Manila, killing three officers and wounding
three others before he was fatally shot.
(AP, 10/7/03)
2003 Oct 12, In the Philippines
Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, terrorist bombmaker for Jemaah Islamiyah, was
killed in a shootout with police in Pigcauayan.
(SFC, 10/13/03, p.A7)
2003 Oct 18, Pres. Bush addressed
a special joint session of the Philippine Congress in Manila. Some 290
families lost their homes in a shantytown of the Batasan Hills, which
faced the building where the address was to be held. Bush promised to
help the Philippines defeat terrorism by aiding in the modernization of
its under-equipped military. Thousands of university students and other
activists marched to protest Bush's visit to Manila already tense over
security concerns.
(SFC, 10/17/03, p.A5)(AP, 10/18/03)(SSFC, 10/19/03,
p.A3)
2003 Nov 7, Philippine security
officers shot and killed the country's former top civil aviation
official and a navy reserve officer as they seized the Manila airport
control tower at gunpoint.
(AP, 11/8/03)
2003 Nov 22, The Diva2Diva show at
the Daly City, Ca., Cow Palace featured Filipino singers Kuh Ledesma
and Zsa Zsa Padilla.
(Ind, 11/15/03, p.1A)
2003 Dec 8, US District Judge
James Ware ruled that US toxic cleanup law doesn't apply abroad. A suit
by Filipinos sought that the US government be required to assess
pollution near 2 former military bases.
(SFC, 12/12/03, p.A6)
2003 Dec 13, Philippine Foreign
Secretary Blas Ople (76), a key ally of President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo in her support for Washington's war on terror, died of a heart
attack.
(AP, 12/14/03)
2003 Dec 16, Pres. Bush signed a
measure that made WW II Filipino American veterans eligible for full
Veterans Affair health care. Previous benefits were at half the rate of
US veterans. Veterans in the Philippines did not qualify.
(SFC, 12/17/03, p.A2)(SFC, 12/30/03, p.A15)
2003 Dec 19, In the Philippines
landslides and floods have killed at least 127 people, and 150 others
were missing and feared dead.
(AP, 12/20/03)(AP, 12/21/03)(AP, 12/22/03)
2003 Dec 21, More than 150 people
were killed in mudslides in the Philippines. [see Dec 19]
(AP, 12/21/04)
2003 Dec 31, In the Philippines a
fire sparked by firecrackers swept through an old market in Lucena
City, killing at least 14 people who were trapped inside their stalls.
(AP, 12/31/03)
2003 Jul 13, Hashim Salamat (61),
founder of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), died in the
Philippines. In the 1960s he was sent to Egypt where he obtained an
Islamic philosophy degree from Al Azhar college in 1967 and a masters
degree two years later.
(WSJ, 8/25/08,
p.A6)(www.newsflash.org/2003/05/ht/ht003629.htm)
2004 Jan 2, Philippine movie star
Fernando Po Jr. filed his candidacy for the presidency.
(SFC, 1/2/04, p.A2)
2004 Jan 4, In the southern
Philippines a bomb exploded at a packed basketball game, killing 11
people and wounding at least 68 including Parang Mayor Vivencio Bataga,
who was the likely target of the attack.
(AP, 1/4/04)(SFC, 1/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Jan 10, In the Philippines 3
rebels and 4 soldiers died when the guerrilla New People's Army
attacked a power plant south of Manila.
(AP, 1/10/04)
2004 Jan 12, In the Philippines a
huge fire in a Manila shantytown hurt at least 23 people, destroyed
thousands of homes and left about 25,000 residents homeless.
(AP, 1/12/04)
2004 Jan 22, A Philippine tribunal
ordered the immediate transfer to the government of $683 million in
illegally accumulated funds from Swiss bank accounts of former dictator
Ferdinand Marcos.
(AP, 1/22/04)
2004 Jan 25, Rescuers in the
Philippines launched a massive search for 53 fishermen missing after
their boats were pounded by strong winds and high waves off three
northwestern provinces. At least two fishermen died.
(AP, 1/25/04)
2004 Feb 11, Philippine troops
rescued Alastair Joseph Onglingswan (35), a kidnapped American
businessman, who was chained by his neck and feet for 22 days by a lone
abductor.
(AP, 2/11/04)
2004 Feb 27, In the Philippines a
ferry explosion and fire killed at least two people, though 180 more
were missing. The Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf claimed
responsibility. In 2008 Ruben Pestano Lavilla Jr. was arrested in
Bahrain and deported back to the Philippines for his role in the
bombing of the ferry which killed 116 people.
(AP, 2/29/04)(SFC, 9/1/08, p.A3)
2004 Mar 30, Philippine officials
reported the arrest of 4 Muslim extremists in the brutal
al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group. They were found with a stash of TNT
targeted for terror attacks on trains and shopping malls in the
Philippine capital. A suspected Muslim extremist told police
interrogators he planted TNT in a television set on a ferry that caught
fire last month, killing more than 100 people
(AP, 3/30/04)
2004 Apr 8, In the Philippines 6
members of the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group including Hamsiraji
Sali, a senior leader wanted by the US, were killed in a clash with
government troops on southern Basilan island. In Oct three informants
received $1 million for their help.
(AP, 4/8/04)(SFC, 4/9/04, p.A3)(SFC, 11/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 10, In the southern
Philippines more than 50 inmates, including many suspected members of a
Muslim extremist group, used a smuggled pistol to escape from prison.
At least nine were killed by police.
(AP, 4/10/04)
2004 May 10, In Philippine
elections voters cast ballots for president, vice president, the House
of Representatives, half of 24 seats in the Senate and about 17,000
municipal posts. Incumbent Gloria Macapagal Arroyo opposed film star
Fernando Poe Jr. Arroyo won a narrow victory over her movie star rival
and her coalition gained a majority in the legislature.
(AP, 5/10/04)(AP, 5/24/04)(WSJ, 5/25/04, p.A1)
2004 May 10, In Philippine
elections Grace Padaca, physically impaired by childhood polio, was
elected governor of the poor northern Isabela province. This ended a
41-year monopoly by the Dy family.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.47)
2004 May 18, A powerful typhoon
slammed into the Philippines, causing at least 19 deaths on eastern
islands in the archipelago.
(AP, 5/19/04)
2004 May 19, In the Philippines
Typhoon Nida left 31 people dead.
(SFC, 5/21/04, p.B10)
2004 Jun 13, Philippine air force
troops clashed with communist guerrillas camped out on a farm near
Manila and 3 rebels were killed.
(AP, 6/13/04)
2004 Jun 20, A Philippine
congressional committee announced, six weeks after the election, that
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has won another term in office. In
2005 an audio file, allegedly wiretapped by military intelligence,
became available with Arroyo speaking to election’s official Virgilio
Garcillano. The “Hello Garci? file became popular as a cell phone ring
tone.
(AP, 6/20/04)(SFC, 6/22/05, p.A2)
2004 Jul 3, Tropical storm
Mindulle, the Korean word for dandelion, pushed toward South Korea
after killing at least 31 people in the Philippines and 18 in Taiwan.
(Reuters, 7/3/04)(AP, 7/4/04)
2004 Jul 13, The Philippines said
it would withdraw its tiny peacekeeping force from Iraq as soon as it
can. The Philippine government made a direct appeal to insurgents
holding a Filipino hostage, pleading with them to show mercy for the
man they threatened to kill if the country did not agree to pull its
troops from Iraq early.
(AP, 7/13/04)
2004 Jul 19, The Philippines said
that it has completed the withdrawal of its peacekeeping contingent
from Iraq.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Aug 13, A southern
Philippines court sentenced 17 members of the al-Qaida-linked Abu
Sayyaf militant group to death for kidnapping nurses from a hospital
there three years ago.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 27, Riot police used
water cannons to disperse protesters demanding that the Philippines
lift its ban on allowing its citizens to go to war-ravaged Iraq for
jobs.
(AP, 8/27/04)
2004 Nov 12, In the northern
Philippines a passenger train derailed and tumbled down a ravine
killing at least 10 people and injuring nearly 120 others.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 22, In the Philippines 29
people were confirmed dead with 84 others missing and feared dead
following tropical storm Muifa.
(AP, 11/22/04)
2004 Nov 30, The death toll from
landslides and flash floods in the eastern Philippines jumped to nearly
340 with 150 others missing, after a second rainstorm hit a region
still reeling from last week's deadly typhoon. Excess logging was
blamed for the landslides. Only some 70,000 sq. km. of forest remained
from an estimated 300,000 a hundred years ago.
(AP, 11/30/04)(Econ, 12/11/04, p.42)
2004 Dec 2, In the Philippines
back-to-back storms killed more at least 842 people and left 751
missing. 1,100 were feared dead in the wake of Typhoon Nanmadol.
(AP, 12/4/04)(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A26)
2004 Dec 12, In the southern
Philippines a powerful explosion ripped through an outdoor market
packed with Christmas shoppers, killing at least 15 people and injuring
58 others.
(AP, 12/12/04)
2004 Dec 14, Fernando Poe
(b.1939), former Philippine actor and presidential candidate, died from
a stroke in Manila. Poe, a star in over 200 films, lost the recent
elections to Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo by 1.1 million votes.
(SFC, 12/14/04, p.B7)
2004 Dec, The Philippine Supreme
Court ruled to allow foreign firms to run mines in the Philippines,
overturning a negative decision last January.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.)
2004 The Philippine budget deficit
was 3.9% of GDP. Its consolidated public-sector debt was almost 140% of
GDP and some feared a default.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.72)
2005 Jan 1, Philippines was
forecast for 4.5% annual GDP growth with a population at 87.9 million
and GDP per head at $1,010.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.91)
2005 Feb 7, In the Philippines
hundreds of armed followers of a jailed former Muslim rebel leader
attacked government troops and occupied at least one army detachment on
violent southern Jolo island, sparking clashes that killed at least 12
soldiers.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 12, Philippine couples
started gathering along a Manila bayside boulevard for a
pre-Valentine's Day kissing festival. Organizers hoped a million
couples will lock lips nationwide.
(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 14, Three bombs jolted
Manila and two other Philippine cities, killing at least 12 people and
wounding more than 100 others. The Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf
claimed responsibility for the blasts.
(AP, 2/14/05)(Econ, 2/19/05, p.41)
2005 Mar 9, In the southern
Philippines at least 27 children died from food poisoning after eating
a deep-fried caramelized cassava snack at school. Evidence later
revealed that a pesticide in the snack was the cause of death.
(AP, 3/9/05)(WSJ, 3/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 14, A group of
Muslim-extremist inmates accused of carrying out some of the
Philippines' worst terrorist attacks agreed to surrender after a
botched jailbreak left at least 5 people dead. The deal later broke
down when the inmates demanded dinner first.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 15, In the Philippines
some of the country's most hardened terror suspects were killed in a
failed prison uprising that left 28 people dead. The inmates at Camp
Bagong Diwa in suburban Manila had agreed to surrender after their
failed jailbreak a day earlier, but the deal broke down when they
demanded food first.
(AP, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 23, In Manila a terror
suspect said the southern Philippines has become a major training
ground for regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, graduating 23 bomb
experts just days ago.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 24, In the southern
Philippines, Marlene Garcia Esperat (45), a columnist for a weekly
newspaper, was shot dead in her home in front of her children. Her
husband told a radio station that his wife had "many enemies because of
her exposes," mostly on corruption and other issues of governance.
(AP, 3/26/05)
2005 Apr 14, In Haiti a Filipino
soldier was killed as U.N. forces pushed into a volatile slum
controlled by heavily armed gangs loyal to deposed President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
(AP, 4/15/05)
2005 Apr 28, A military helicopter
crashed into a wooded ravine on a northern Philippine mountain, killing
all nine people on board.
(AP, 4/29/05)
2005 May 10, Philip Agustin,
publisher of a weekly in Dingalan, Philippines, was shot dead in his
house. He had with him 500 copies of his newspaper featuring reports on
corruption in Dingalan.
(Econ, 6/18/05, p.39)
2005 May, An arc of windmills
started supplying electricity to 40 per cent of Ilocos Norte province,
the first source of clean energy introduced in the Phillipines, a
nation with 84 million people reliant on oil and gas.
(AFP, 10/12/05)
2005 Jun 11, In the Philippines
thousands of protesters demanded President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo step
down during the biggest anti-government rally since allegations
surfaced that she fixed last year's election and her family received
gambling kickbacks.
(AP, 6/11/05)
2005 Jun 21, In Manila Cardinal
Jaime Sin (76) died. He was an outspoken advocate of democracy and
played a key role in the "people power" revolts (1986, 2001) that
ousted two Philippine presidents.
(AP, 6/21/05)(Econ, 7/2/05, p.77)
2005 Jun 29, Philippine Pres.
Gloria Macagapal Arroyo said her husband, implicated in bribes and
influence peddling, had agreed to leave the Philippines.
(WSJ, 6/30/05, p.A10)
2005 Jul 8, Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo's presidency was in tatters, her base of support eroding by the
hour, as former backers abandoned the Philippine leader and added to
calls for her resignation over an election scandal.
(AP, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 13, Pressure grew for
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to quit as her opponents
staged the largest rally against her so far.
(AP, 7/13/05)
2005 Jul 25, Opposition lawmakers
in the Philippine parliament filed impeachment proceedings against
President Gloria Arroyo, accusing her of vote-rigging and other
allegations.
(AP, 7/25/05)
2005 Aug 10, In the southern
Philippines a series of powerful explosions described as terrorist
attacks ripped through Zamboanga city and injured at least 14 people.
(AP, 8/10/05)
2005 Aug 28, In the Philippines a
bomb stashed in a pack of clothes exploded on a ferry in Basilan as it
was loading passengers, injuring at least 30 people, including nine
children.
(AP, 8/28/05)
2005 Aug 30, In the Philippines
impeachment proceedings against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo fell
into chaos, as opposition lawmakers walked out of a committee hearing
and claimed her backers were unjustly trying to quash the case.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 31, In the Philippines a
congressional committee voted to quash all impeachment complaints
against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with the opposition
boycotting.
(AP, 8/31/05)
2005 Sep 23, In the southern
Philippines 3 teenagers were killed and at least 8 others wounded when
a retired army sergeant threw a grenade at a group of boys at a town
fiesta.
(AP, 9/24/05)
2005 Oct 4, A Philippine
provincial government filed a lawsuit in Nevada accusing Canadian
mining giant Placer Dome Inc. of damaging the environment and health of
residents of an island about 100 miles south of Manila. Placer Dome was
blamed for a March 1996 environmental accident that sent millions of
tons of open-pit copper mine waste down a river to the Marinduque
capital, Boac.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 7, Philippine authorities
said they had started an investigation to unmask opposition figures
suspected of involvement in the theft of classified US documents in a
widening spy scandal. Leandro Aragoncillo, an FBI analyst in New
Jersey, was suspected of passing intelligence to the Philippines.
(AP, 10/7/05)(SFC, 10/7/05, p.A11)
2005 Oct 13, Philippine police
fired jets of water and used anti-riot shields to break up a march by
about 300 left-wing student activists demanding the ouster of President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 26, Philippine troops
captured 7 suspected Muslim militants, including the leader of a group
of Islamic converts linked to the kidnappings of foreigners and an
alleged plot to bomb.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, In the Philippines a
tunnel in a gold mine on Mindanao collapsed after a blast and about 50
people were feared dead.
(Reuters, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 28, A Philippine court
sentenced to death an Indonesian and two Filipino Muslim militants for
their roles in the bombing of a Manila bus.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Nov 1, In the Philippines 6
US Marines took part in a rape at the former US naval base at Subic
Bay. The incident soon fueled anti-US demonstrations in Manila and
objections to US presence in the Philippines. Prosecutors later
contended the victim (22) was attacked in a van at Subic Bay by Lance
Cpl. Daniel Smith as Lance Cpl. Keith Silkwood, Lance Cpl. Dominic
Duplantis and Staff Sgt. Chad Carpentier cheered on the assault. In
Dec, 2006, Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith (21) from St. Louis, was convicted
of raping a Filipino woman and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was
the first American soldier convicted of wrongdoing in the Philippines
since the country shut down US bases here the early 1990s. In 2009 his
accuser submitted a five-page affidavit to an appeals court saying she
now doubts her own version of events. In March it was revealed that
Smith had paid the victim $2000 in damages and that she had gone to
live in America with her American boyfriend. On April 23, 2009, the
Philippine Court of Appeals overturned the ruling against Smith,
indicating the sexual act was consensual.
(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A13)(AP, 6/26/06)(AP, 12/4/06)(AP,
3/18/09)(Econ, 5/2/09, p.43)
2005 Nov 3, In the Philippines the
Asian Development Bank warned that a flu pandemic could kill 3 million
people in Asia, trigger economic carnage in the region worth almost
$300 billion and push the world into a recession.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 5, Philippine security
forces captured a man they believed was Radulan Sahiron, Abu Sayyaf's
chief of staff, in Zamboanga Sibugay province, however it turned out to
be a case of mistaken identity. Sahiron was also wanted by the US for
attacks against Americans.
(AP, 11/5/05)(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 27, Philippine President
Gloria Arroyo declared the 23rd Southeast Asian Games open in a
glittering ceremony at the Aquino sports stadium in Central Manila. An
estimated 5,336 athletes will compete in 41 events which will run from
November 27 to December 5. The 11 participating countries included
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, East Timor and Vietnam.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Dec 9-2005 Dec 11, Fidel
Ramos, former president of the Philippines, and Michael Camdessus,
former managing IMF director, chaired the 1st annual meeting of the
Emerging Markets Forum at Templeton College, Oxford, England.
(Econ, 12/17/05, p.76)
2005 Dec 27, Philippine
prosecutors charged four US Marines with rape in what is seen as a test
case for a bilateral accord allowing American troops to train here.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Dec 29, Philippine media
reported that 2 US Marines, who were accused of raping a Filipina
woman, have been allowed to leave the Philippines after prosecutors
decided not to file charges against them.
(AFP, 12/29/05)
2005 Dec 31, Philippine President
Gloria Arroyo announced Indonesia's Lippo Group with local partners is
investing some three billion pesos (56.5 million dollars) in a
Philippine bank.
(AP, 12/31/05)
2005 Walden Bello, Philippine
economist, authored “Deglobalization, Ideas for a New World Economy.”
(Econ, 2/21/09, p.59)
2005 The Philippine Department of
Labor refused 2 unions permission to go on strike at the Hacienda
Luisita sugar plantation. 7 workers were killed in a protest that
followed.
(Econ, 12/10/05, p.50)
2006 Jan 8, In the Philippines
fire raced through a dormitory in Manila's congested university
district, killing at least eight people, including some clustered near
a second-floor exit.
(AP, 1/8/06)
2006 Jan 13, A Philippine judge
issued arrest warrants for four US Marines charged with rape, putting
pressure on the United States to hand them over to Philippine
authorities.
(AP, 1/13/06)
2006 Jan 15, An overcrowded boat
capsized during a religious sea parade in a remote central Philippine
province, and at least 16 people drowned and more were missing.
(AP, 1/15/06)
2006 Jan 17, In the Philippines 4
officers, accused of leading hundreds of troops in a failed 2003
mutiny, escaped from an army prison. The army lieutenants were
identified as Lawrence San Juan, Sonny Sarmiento, Nathaniel Rabonza and
Patricio Bumindang.
(AP, 1/17/06)
2006 Jan 17, The US rejected a
Philippine request to hand over 4 Marines to be tried for rape, setting
off anti-American protests in Manila and elsewhere.
(WSJ, 1/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Jan 19, A Philippine
congressional committee approved a resolution calling on the government
to abrogate an accord allowing large-scale American military exercises
in the country after US officials refused to hand over four US Marines
accused of rape.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 31, The Philippine health
department warned that an AIDS crisis threatens the country as the
number of people who are HIV carriers has doubled in just over three
years.
(AP, 1/31/06)
2006 Jan 31, Philippines troops
killed at least 18 communist rebels in their bloodiest clash in months.
The clash happened outside Santa Ignacia town in Tarlac province, about
80 miles north of Manila.
(AP, 1/31/06)
2006 Feb 4, In the Philippines
thousands of people lined up outside a stadium near Manila to watch a
TV game show surged toward the gates in the mistaken belief they were
open, and at least 88 people were trampled to death. Over 300 people
were injured.
(AFP, 2/4/06)
2006 Feb 17, In the eastern
Philippines a rain-soaked mountainside disintegrated into a torrent of
mud, swallowing hundreds of houses and an elementary school in sludge
three stories high. 1,800 people were missing and feared dead, which
included nearly every man, woman and child who lived in Guinsaugon.
Logging in the area was cited as a contributing factor. 8.5 million
acres of forests had been logged in the Philippines over the last 15
years.
(AP, 2/18/06)(SFC, 2/18/06, p.A9)
2006 Feb 18, On the southern
Philippine island of Jolo, janitor for US troops was killed and 13
people wounded in an explosion near an army base. Abu Sayyaf was
suspected.
(AP, 2/18/06)
2006 Feb 22, In the Philippines
thousands of activists seeking President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's
ouster clashed with riot police in Manila as they tried to march to a
monument to the 1986 "people power" revolt.
(AP, 2/22/06)
2006 Feb 24, In the Philippines
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a state of emergency, saying
she had quashed a coup plot, and the military confined troops to their
camps to keep them from joining growing protests against her rule.
(AP, 2/24/06)
2006 Feb 26, In the Philippines a
challenge to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's state of emergency
ended peacefully after disgruntled marine officers ended a five-hour
standoff that started when their commander was relieved of duties.
(AP, 2/26/06)
2006 Feb 27, In the Philippines
police filed charges of rebellion against 16 people suspected of
plotting to overthrow President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, as dozens of
protesters attempted to storm the legislature. Among those charged were
former opposition Sen. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, a veteran of past
coup attempts in the 1990s, five members of the House of
Representatives, a communist rebel leader and some soldiers. In 2009 a
military tribunal acquitted 11 officers of plotting the foiled coup.
The defendants were among a total of 28 military officers who were
detained following the alleged plan to force Arroyo from power.
(AP, 2/27/06)(AP, 10/15/09)
2006 Mar 3, In the Philippines
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo lifted a week-old state of emergency,
justifying the controversial decree by claiming a coup plot had been "a
clear and present danger." Isabela City Mayor Luis Biel II was shot and
killed outside his office. Bodyguards killed the gunman.
(AP, 3/3/06)(http://tinyurl.com/ytgzu6)
2006 Mar 23, Computer-savvy
Philippine protesters took civil disobedience to cyberspace, launching
a "virtual sit-in" campaign that urged online activists to overwhelm
the police Web site with numerous hits.
(AP, 3/23/06)
2006 Mar 27, In the Philippines a
bomb exploded in a grocery store on southern Jolo island, killing 9
people and wounding 20. Police said an extortion attempt by suspected
militants was likely behind the bombing.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2006 Mar 29, Some 20 Filipino
seamen were seized after their oil tanker, the United Arab
Emirates-registered MT LIN1, offloaded its cargo at a southern Somali
port. The men were released in July 15 following negotiations.
(AP, 7/16/06)
2006 Apr 14, In the Philippines at
least 11 devotees were nailed to crosses during Good Friday
reenactments of Christ's final hours.
(AP, 4/14/06)
2006 Apr 16, Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo, president of the Philippines, said in an Easter announcement
that she would commute the death sentences of some 1,200 convicts,
including about a dozen al-Qaida-linked militants.
(AP, 4/16/06)
2006 Apr 24, In the Philippines
government prosecutors filed rebellion charges against a former
senator, six leftist lawmakers and 42 others suspected of plotting a
coup in February against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
(AP, 4/24/06)
2006 Apr 29, In the Philippines
military intelligence agents captured Abdasil Malangka Dima, an alleged
member of the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group, in Isabela, the
capital of the southern island province of Basilan. He was allegedly
involved in the abduction of three Americans, including a missionary
couple, from a resort five years ago.
(AP, 4/29/06)
2006 May 1, Workers around the
world held May Day rallies to press for better factory conditions and
higher wages in mostly peaceful marches. Activists the Philippines used
the holiday to show their opposition to their government in tense
protests watched by police.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 4, A US federal court
ruled that over 9,500 victims of human rights abuses under Ferdinand
Marcos (1917-1989) were entitled to $35 million in a US account, which
he established in 1972. Damages awarded in 1995 reached nearly $2
million.
(SFC, 5/5/06, p.B7)
2006 May 8, Five lawmakers who
took refuge in the Philippine legislature for two months while facing
coup accusations walked out of the building in triumph after a court
dismissed the charges.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 12, A small boat sank
during a tropical storm in the central Philippines, killing at least 21
people. Two other people were electrocuted in the storm, while floods
submerged 16 villages.
(AP, 5/13/06)
2006 May 24, Philippine officials
said the US States and the Philippines have forged a security
arrangement covering threats such as terrorism, piracy, natural
disasters and outbreaks of disease. The initiative was launched last
year and diplomatic notes for carrying out the arrangement were
exchanged in April.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 Jun 11, In the Philippines a
grenade blast wounded eight people in a market in Batangas province. A
nearly simultaneous explosion damaged a mobile police station in Manila.
(AP, 6/11/06)
2006 Jun 13, In the eastern
Philippines 11 prisoners escaped from a jail after killing two guards
and wounding two others. The inmates were led by a communist guerrilla,
Jessie Galecio, who had escaped from jail twice before.
(AP, 6/14/06)
2006 Jun 20, Two Filipino oil
workers were kidnapped near the Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt in
the southern Niger Delta.
(AFP, 6/20/06)
2006 Jun 23, In the southern
Philippines a car bomb exploded in a public market in Shariff Aguad as
a convoy carrying a provincial governor was passing by, killing five
people wounding 10 others.
(AP, 6/23/06)
2006 Jun 24, Philippines’
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a law abolishing the death
penalty, giving final approval to a measure that divided many Filipinos.
(AP, 6/24/06)
2006 Jun 25, Two Filipino oil
workers, kidnapped in Nigeria's southern oil delta, were released after
five days in captivity.
(AP, 6/25/06)
2006 Jun 27, A US federal court in
Hawaii authorized partial compensation of $2,000 each to about 7,500
victims of human rights abuses under late Philippine dictator Ferdinand
Marcos.
(AP, 6/28/06)
2006 Jun, Philippines’ President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gave her security forces a 2-year deadline and
an extra 1 billion pesos ($19 million) to wipe out the communist New
People’s Army (NPA).
(Econ, 7/1/06, p.37)
2006 Jul 7, In the Philippines 6
fugitive military officers linked to a failed 2003 mutiny against
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo were arrested.
(AP, 7/7/06)
2006 Jul 10, In the Philippines a
fire destroyed more than 200 shanties in a squatter colony north of
Manila, killing one resident, injuring 6 others and leaving about 5,000
people homeless.
(AP, 7/10/06)
2006 Jul 13, In the northern
Philippines a powerful Asian storm strengthen to a typhoon after
killing at least nine people.
(AP, 7/13/06)
2006 Jul 18, In the southern
Philippines Armando Pace (56), who often attacked corruption among
politicians and the illegal drug trade in Digos city, was gunned down
as he was riding home on a motorcycle. He was the ninth journalist
killed in the country this year and the 82nd since 1986, based on a
count by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Aug 3, Fresh fighting broke
out between Philippine forces and Al-Qaeda-linked militants after four
people were killed in a major operation to capture two suspected Bali
bombers.
(AFP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 8, The Philippine
Congress began hearing new impeachment complaints against President
Gloria Arroyo, linking her to corruption and human rights abuses and
alleging she cheated in the 2004 election.
(AFP, 8/8/06)
2006 Aug 11, An oil tanker sank in
rough seas off the Philippine coast of Guimaras Island, about 312 miles
southeast of Manila. About 528,000 gallons of industrial fuel was
leaking from the accident.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 18, Greenpeace warned a
sunken Philippine oil tanker was a pollution timebomb as oil from its
punctured tanks destroyed coral reefs and washed up blackened fish on
pristine beaches. Oil trapped in the tanks of the Solar I, which went
down last week with 500,000 gallons of industrial oil on board, could
pour out at any time. To date some 50,000 gallons had leaked into the
sea close to the central island of Guimaras.
(AP, 8/18/06)
2006 Sep 4, Philippine marines
clashed with nearly 200 al-Qaida-linked rebels on Jolo Island. 6
government troops were killed and 19 wounded in the monthlong US-backed
offensive. In Dec the military said Khaddafy Janjalani, head of the
al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf, was killed in the fighting and that his
remains had been found. DNA evidence confirmed his death.
(AP, 9/4/06)(AP, 12/27/06)(AP, 1/20/07)
2006 Sep 6, The Philippine
government said it will take full control of Manila airport's
controversial new airport terminal despite an international court
ruling to return it to its builders. Philippine International Air
Terminals Co Inc (PIATCO) built the terminal under a
"build-operate-transfer" contract, but in 2002 President Arroyo revoked
the contract on the grounds that certain terms were illegally
renegotiated by Joseph Estrada, her deposed predecessor.
(AP, 9/6/06)
2006 Sep 28, Typhoon Xangsane
battered the northern and central Philippines with rains and winds,
killing at least 76 people.
(AP, 9/29/06)(AFP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 3, In the Philippines
Bishop Alberto Ramento of Tarlac, former Obispo Maximo of the Iglesia
Filipina Independiente (IFI), was found stabbed to death at his
rectory. He was a noisy critic of government security forces.
(Econ, 10/14/06, p.46)
2006 Oct 8, In the Philippines
about 30 communist guerrillas attacked an international airport under
construction in Silay City in Negros Occidental province, using bombs
to destroy equipment and seizing guns from guards.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 10, In the Philippines a
bomb exploded in the town of Makilala on the southern island of
Mindanao during a celebration to mark the town's 52nd anniversary. 12
people were killed and at least 42 injured. 5 people were injured when
a bomb planted by suspected Muslim extremists exploded in the busy
market of Tacurong City.
(AFP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 17, Philippine media
groups accused the president's husband of trying to muzzle a critical
press by filing a string of libel cases against 43 journalists and
publishers.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 25, The Philippine
Supreme Court vetoed a move to change the presidential system to a
unicameral parliamentary government, dealing a blow to President Gloria
Arroyo's economic agenda.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 29, In the northern
Philippines Typhoon Cimaron blasted roofs off homes as it made
landfall, with officials saying it may be one of the most powerful
storms to ever hit the country.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 30, Typhoon Cimaron swept
across the northern Philippines, killing more than 15 people in a
barrage of landslides, uprooted trees and flooding.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 31, Typhoon Cimaron
headed toward eastern Vietnam after leaving at least 15 dead in
landslides and flooding in the northern Philippines.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Nov 15, In the Philippines
Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan,” a coup-fomenting former army colonel, and
senator were arrested after a house-to-house chase on charges of
involvement in a February plot to overthrow the president.
(AP, 11/15/06)(SFC, 11/15/06, p.A4)
2006 Nov 25, In the southern
Philippines the Leonida II, a small ferry, capsized in rough waters,
leaving 19 passengers missing while 66 people were rescued.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 28, Noxious fumes from
chemical waste dumped into a Philippine creek forced thousands to flee
their homes and sickened dozens. Men told police they had loaded
chemical waste from a plastic factory and dumped the cargo in Marilao,
15 miles north of Manila.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 30, Typhoon Durian, the
4th major typhoon to hit the Philippines in four months, killed
198 people and left 260 others missing. The figures included 109 people
who died in mudslides on the slopes of the Mayon volcano that also
injured 130.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 1, Officials reported
that Typhoon Durian killed as many as 200 people when it tore through
the eastern Philippines. The storm was eventually blamed for 1,399
deaths.
(AP, 12/1/07)
2006 Dec 2, In the Philippines
rescuers scouring mountain villages buried under mud and boulders
loosed by a powerful typhoon discovered more bodies, raising the death
total to more than 300, with another 300 missing.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 4, Marine Lance Cpl.
Daniel Smith was convicted in the Philippines of raping a Filipino
woman and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
(AP, 12/4/07)
2006 Dec 4, Rescuers in the
Philippines all but gave up hope of finding survivors in
mudslide-swamped villages on the slopes of the Mayon volcano, five days
after Typhoon Durian killed an estimated 1,000 people.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 5, The first foreign aid
flights of food and medicines arrived in the eastern Philippines.
Officials said devastating mudslides had left at least 1,266 people
dead or missing.
(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 9, Typhoon Utor, the 2nd
to hit the Philippines in two weeks, made landfall forcing the
evacuation of thousands in Eastern Samar province where hundreds died
in the last storm. Typhoon Utor killed at least 5 people.
(AP, 12/9/06)(Reuters, 12/10/06)
2006 Dec 22, The US said it
canceled a joint military exercise with the Philippines scheduled for
next year because of a dispute over the custody of a US Marine
appealing his rape conviction.
(AP, 12/22/06)
2006 Dec 25, A fire blamed on
illegally sold firecrackers swept through a department store in the
central Philippines on Christmas Day, killing 24 people who took refuge
in a restroom.
(AP, 12/25/06)
2006 Dec 29, A US Marine convicted
of raping a Filipino woman was whisked away from a Manila jail to the
US Embassy, almost a month after the US and Philippine governments
urged a local court to transfer him to American custody during his
appeal.
(AP, 12/29/06)
2007 Jan 3, In the northern
Philippines a minibus carrying partygoers from a beach collided with a
cargo truck, killing eight people and injuring 17.
(AP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 6, Philippine troops
killed six members of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group, including
one wanted by the US for involvement in the kidnapping of Americans.
(AP, 1/6/07)
2007 Jan 9, Philippine troops
killed Binang Sali, a senior al-Qaida-linked militant, who allegedly
led an urban terror unit of the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf.
(AP, 1/10/07)
2007 Jan 10, In the southern
Philippines a bomb exploded across the street from a public market,
killing six people and wounding 22 others. A second blast in the region
hours later wounded two people near a police outpost.
(AP, 1/10/07)
2007 Jan 12, East Timor and France
signed non-aggression treaties with ASEAN member countries on the
sidelines of the annual ASEAN summit in the Philippine resort city of
Cebu. Both countries looked to strengthen ties with a bloc
representing a sixth of the world's people.
(AP, 1/13/07)
2007 Jan 13, ASEAN leaders meeting
in the Philippines signed an agreement to regulate migrant workers.
(Econ, 1/20/07, p.54)
2007 Jan 14, ASEAN leaders meeting
in the Philippines signed an agreement to liberalize the trade in
services between China and ASEAN countries.
(Econ, 1/20/07, p.54)
2007 Jan 16, In the Philippines
Jainal Antel Sali Jr. (41), popularly known as Abu Sulaiman, a top
al-Qaida-linked militant, was killed. He was accused of kidnapping
three Americans in 2001 and of masterminding one of Southeast Asia's
worst terror attacks three years later. DNA evidence soon confirmed
Sulaiman’s death.
(AP, 1/17/07)(AP, 1/20/07)
2007 Jan 18, A Philippine Marines
platoon battled about 30 extremists under Abu Sayyaf veteran Radullan
Sahiron in the Jolo town of Patikul. Ten Abu Sayyaf members and three
government troops died in the hour-long fight, while three militants
were captured.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Feb 2, Suspected Muslim
guerrillas stormed a Philippine jail and blasted a hole through a wall,
freeing three alleged bombers and dozens of other inmates. In the
southern Philippines 50 people were killed and 65 others injured when a
tanker truck exploded as it was negotiating a downhill mountain
road.
(AP, 2/2/07)(AP, 2/3/07)
2007 Feb 4, A Philippine marine
general and 19 others were released from a Muslim rebel camp where they
were held for two days by guerrillas demanding more benefits under a
1996 peace accord.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 13, In Nigeria gunmen
released 24 Filipino sailors taken hostage in the lawless southern
oil-producing region.
(AP, 2/13/07)
2007 Feb 15, A leftist student
leader was murdered in the central Philippines, amid plans to set up
special tribunals to try people suspected of carrying out extrajudicial
killings. Farly Alcantara (22) was head of the League of Filipino
Students at Camarines Norte State College.
(AFP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 18, In the southern
Philippines an unidentified gunman fatally shot Hernani Pastolero (64),
the editor of a weekly newspaper in front of his home in the village of
Bulalo.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2007 Mar 6, Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed into law a package of anti-terror
measures that has drawn protests as a threat to civil liberties.
(AP, 3/6/07)
2007 Mar 14, Philippine police
stormed a courtroom to end a 24-hour hostage standoff, freeing all four
captives who were held by a movie stuntman and his common-law wife. The
gunman was killed when he dropped a grenade during the confrontation.
(AP, 3/14/07)
2007 Mar 27, The US offered a $5
million reward for information leading to the capture of a US-trained
Malaysian engineer accused of involvement in a series of deadly
bombings in the Philippines.
(AP, 3/27/07)
2007 Mar 28, The health department
of Philippines said HIV/AIDS is ravaging the large overseas work force,
posing a long-term threat to one of Manila's key sources of foreign
exchange.
(AFP, 3/28/07)
2007 Mar 28, In the Philippines
Jun Ducat (56), a Manila day-care center owner armed with grenades and
guns, held more than 30 youngsters and teachers hostage on a bus, then
freed them after a 10-hour standoff that he used to denounce corruption
and demand better lives for impoverished children.
(AP,
3/28/07)(http://english.people.com.cn/200703/29/eng20070329_362055.html)
2007 Apr 3, In the Philippines
Pete Amurin, a local election board official in the city of Puerto
Rincesa, capital of Palawan island west of Manila, was shot dead at
close range near his office.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In the Philippines
police said they found the bodies of two missing members of the
militant Peasant Movement of the Philippines, or KMP, near a river in
the northern town of Lailo in Cagayan province.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 7, In the southern
Philippines 9 soldiers and a civilian were killed in a clash in a small
army camp in Jolo island’s Parang town.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, In the Philippines
Julia Campbell (40), American Peace Corps volunteer from Fairfax, Va.,
was last seen in the town of Banaue in Ifugao province. Her body was
found April 18 in a shallow grave near Batad village. In 2008 Juan
Duntugan was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 40 years in
prison without parole.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(SFC, 4/19/07, p.A8)(AP,
6/30/08)
2007 Apr 11, More than 50
Philippine military officers pleaded guilty to violating military order
and discipline in a plea bargain, escaping lengthy jail terms for a
failed mutiny in Manila nearly four years ago.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 13, Muslim rebels fired
mortar bombs on a Philippines marine base in the southern island of
Jolo, killing two soldiers and a child.
(Reuters, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 15, Philippine marines
killed at least 8 Muslim rebels and captured two of their camps in
retaliation for a series of attacks that killed a child and two
soldiers.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 19, The heads of seven
men who were kidnapped by Muslim extremists on a volatile southern
island were delivered to a Philippine army detachment. The men, six
road project workers and a dried-fish factory worker, were kidnapped at
gunpoint in two separate incidents April 16 near the town of Parang. A
group of civilians was ordered to take the heads to Parang by Muslim
rebel commander Habier Malik.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 23, Philippine police
said they have identified a local woodcarver as a suspect in the April
8 killing of Julia Campbell, a US Peace Corps volunteer, and are
following up leads on a possible accomplice. They named the suspect as
Juan Duntugan (25) from the village of Batad in Banaue township.
Duntugan gave himself up April 27 and confessed on television, saying
he would accept "whatever punishment you will impose on me."
(AP, 4/23/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 28, A Philippine air
force helicopter crashed on a busy street in Lapu Lapu City, Cebu
Island, pinning a motorcycle taxi and hitting another with its spinning
rotors. At least 9 people on the ground and one airman were killed.
Norberto Linao Jr., the mayor of Morong town in Bataan province,
escaped injury after assailants sprayed his house with gunfire.
(AFP, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, In the northern
Philippines Mayor Julian Resuello of San Carlos died 2 days after he
was shot to death.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 May 3, Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced that US-based Texas Instruments Inc.,
the world's biggest maker of mobile phone chips, will build a $1
billion plant in the Philippines, choosing the country over China
despite concerns about power costs.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 8, In the Philippines a
homemade bomb ripped through a billiards hall in Tacurong city, killing
three on the spot and five more overnight with 33 seriously wounded.
Officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda-linked
militants from Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
(AFP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In the Philippines
Ernie Tatoy (41), an aide to a gubernatorial candidate, was fatally
shot and his daughter (13) wounded, as violence in the run-up to next
week's local and congressional elections claimed its 100th victim in
four months.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 14, Filipinos braved the
threat of violence to choose local and congressional representatives in
elections. Wahab Akbar, governor of Basilan, was elected congressman
from Basilan. His 1st wife, Jum, was elected to become governor of
Basilan. His 2nd wife Cherrylyn was already mayor of Isabela City.
(AP, 5/14/07)(SSFC, 9/9/07, p.F1)
2007 May 15, International
observers of elections in the Philippines said they witnessed threats
and vote-buying inside some southern precincts, and police said two
more people were killed in violence related to the voting.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 18, A powerful bomb
ripped through a teeming bus terminal in the violence-prone southern
Philippines, killing a 5-year-old boy and injuring about three dozen
other people.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 22, The Philippine
elections commission suspended the vote count from last week's polls in
southern Maguindanao province amid allegations of massive cheating by
pro-government supporters.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 23, Philippine President
Gloria Arroyo said she welcomed a greater global role by Japan as she
discussed a stalled free trade agreement in Tokyo.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 31, Australia and the
Philippines agreed to expand counter-terrorism cooperation, with elite
Australian troops to train their Philippine counterparts in the restive
south.
(AFP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, In the Philippines 6
armed men boarded a bus in Manila and started robbing passengers. 3
suspects, the bus driver and a passenger were killed.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 Jun 2, In the Philippines a
man armed with a 21-inch-long knife killed nine people, including six
children, and wounded 17 others in a rampage in central Samar province.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 7, The US ambassador to
the Philippines handed over a $10 million reward to four Filipino
informants whose tip led to the killing of the country's two top terror
suspects.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 9, The Philippines and
Laos, during a visit of Laotian PM Bouasone Bouphavanh, signed an
agreement hoping to boost the minuscule trade between them and
encourage their first investment links.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 13, A Philippine court
acquitted Imelda Marcos, the flamboyant widow of dictator Ferdinand
Marcos, of five counts of tax evasion. Of more than 900 criminal and
civil cases, mostly for violation of graft and corruption laws during
her husband's 20-year rule, 40 criminal cases and fewer than 20 civil
suits remained. The government said it has recovered at least $1.7
billion in cash and assets from the Marcoses and their associates over
two decades, including Swiss bank deposits now worth at least $680
million.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 15, In the southern
Philippines bombs went off on buses just a few minutes apart, killing
eight people and wounding at least 14 others.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 22, Philippine Justice
Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the government was dropping charges
against veteran coup-plotter Gregorio Honasan after he was elected to
the Senate last month.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 25, In the Philippines
Vicente Sumalpong, a reporter at a government-run radio station, was
fatally shot on southern Tawi Tawi island, the latest victim in a
string of killings of journalists.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jul 5, In the southern
Philippines 9 inmates fled jail after attacking guards. Pursuing police
officers fatally shot three of the escaped convicts and recaptured four
others. Two other inmates from the jail in southern Cagayan de Oro city
remained at large.
(AP, 7/6/07)
2007 Jul 8, In the Philippines 2
small planes collided in the air and crashed in a rice field north of
Manila, killing two Indian citizens and a Filipino flight instructor.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 10, Some 50 Philippine
marines were heading back to camp when they were attacked by about 300
suspected Abu Sayyaf guerrillas in Tipo Tipo town on southern Basilan
island. Troops recovered the bodies of 14 marines, some of them
beheaded.
(AP, 7/11/07)
2007 Jul 12, A Philippine ferry
sank southeast of Manila. At least 129 people survived the sinking of
the MV Blue Water Princess. 15 bodies were recovered and divers said
they found many more.
(AP, 7/13/07)
2007 Jul 19, Rev. Giancarlo Bossi
(57), an Italian priest held hostage for over a month in the southern
Philippines, was released.
(AP, 7/20/07)
2007 Jul 30, In the Philippines
southeast Asian foreign ministers agreed to set up a regional human
rights commission, overcoming fierce resistance from military-ruled
Myanmar. Myanmar agreed not to veto discussion over the human rights
commission at a November summit.
(AP, 7/30/07)(Econ, 8/4/07, p.36)
2007 Jul 31, ASEAN Plus Three
foreign ministers gathered in Manila on the eve of high-level security
talks. ARF, which includes the United States, European Union, India,
Pakistan, North and South Korea and other countries, and will also hold
talks here on Aug 1-2.
(AP, 7/31/07)
2007 Aug 1, The ASEAN summit got
underway in Manila. Diplomats held dozens of meetings in the Philippine
capital, using the annual gathering of nearly 30 nations to confer on
everything from the North Korean crisis to the conflict in Darfur.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 2, FBI agents arrested
Rahmat Abdhir (43), aka Sean Kasem and Sean Kalimin, in San Jose, Ca.,
for providing material support to his brother, Zulkifli Abdhir (41), a
US-trained engineer and terror suspect in the Philippines.
(SFC, 8/3/07, p.B5)
2007 Aug 9, In the Philippines Abu
Sayyaf extremists ambushed a truckload of troops going to market, then
fought a gunbattle with soldiers in pursuit. The death toll included 25
soldiers and 27 militants on the volatile southern island of Jolo.
(AP, 8/9/07)(AP, 8/10/07)
2007 Aug 18, In the Philippines 16
troops and dozens of Muslim extremists were killed in clashes between
government forces and Al-Qaeda-linked rebels on the southern island of
Basilan.
(AP, 8/18/07)
2007 Aug 26, In Manila,
Philippines, economic ministers of Southeast Asian countries (ASEAN)
and China agreed to strengthen product standards and safety. The move
follows recalls of several tainted Chinese products from international
markets.
(AP, 8/26/07)
2007 Aug 28, Jose Maria Sison
(68), a Philippine communist leader, accused of commanding a rebel
uprising from exile for more than 20 years was arrested by Dutch police
in Utrecht on suspicion of ordering the murder of two former allies in
his home country. He was accused of ordering the killings in 2003 and
2004 of Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara, who were gunned down in the
Philippines.
(AP, 8/29/07)
2007 Aug, A census in the
Philippines put the population at almost 89 million.
(Econ, 4/26/08, p.62)
2007 Sep 12, In the Philippines a
court found former Pres. Joseph Estrada guilty of taking more than $85
million in bribes and kickbacks and sentenced him to life imprisonment,
ending a trial that spanned 6 years.
(SFC, 9/12/07, p.A19)
2007 Sep 19, In the Philippines
the US embassy said the US government will spend 190 million dollars
over the next five years on development aid projects in the troubled
southern Philippines.
(AP, 9/19/07)
2007 Oct 3, A Dutch court rejected
a prosecution appeal against the release of Philippine communist leader
Jose Maria Sison, accused of being involved in murders in the
Philippines.
(AFP, 10/3/07)
2007 Oct 4, Philippine President
Gloria Arroyo called for increased trade with India at the start of a
three-day visit.
(AP, 10/4/07)
2007 Oct 19, In the Philippines a
powerful explosion ripped through three floors of a shopping mall in
the heart of Manila's financial district, killing 11 people, injuring
scores and sending police and troops on the highest state of alert.
Police later said a gas leak was the likely cause.
(AP, 10/19/07)(WSJ, 10/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 25,
In the Philippines Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pardoned Joseph
Estrada (70), the ousted former president and action hero. He was
convicted last month on graft charges and given a life sentence. He had
been under house arrest since 2001.
(AP, 10/26/07)
2007 Nov 13, A bomb exploded at an
entrance of the Philippine House of Representatives, killing Rep. Wahab
Akbar, his driver and a staff person.
(AP, 11/13/07)
2007 Nov 15, The Philippine
government reached an agreement with the country's main Islamic
separatist group on carving out boundaries for a Muslim homeland in the
conflict-ridden south. In Manila 3 suspects were killed and three
arrested as police raided an Islamic militant hideout near the
Philippines legislature.
(AP, 11/15/07)(AFP, 11/15/07)
2007 Nov 25, In the Philippines
Typhoon Mitag hit Isabela province after killing 8 people in other
parts of the country. A week earlier Typhoon Hagibis left 13 people
before heading toward Vietnam. It then reversed direction and headed
back toward the Philippines.
(SFC, 11/26/07, p.A10)
2007 Nov 26, Philip Alston, a New
York University law professor charged by the UN Human Rights Council
with investigating extra-judicial killings in the Philippines, reported
that the military was in a state of denial about its role in the deaths
of about 800 opposition activists over the past six years.
(AP, 11/26/07)
2007 Nov 26, In the Philippines
the death toll from Typhoon Mitag rose to 17, as search operations
began for a missing air force jet and a fishing vessel with 27 people
aboard.
(AFP, 11/27/07)
2007 Nov 29, Philippines’
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo quickly quashed the latest threat to
her rule, dispatching troops and SWAT teams when dissident military
officers commandeered a five-star hotel after walking out of their coup
trial.
(AP, 11/29/07)
2007 Nov 30, In the Philippines 50
military officers and their supporters, including a former vice
president, were under arrest and others were being sought following a
failed attempt to trigger a "people power" revolt against the president.
(AP, 11/30/07)
2007 Dec 2, About two dozen
protesters angry over a rape case involving a Marine stormed the
American Embassy. The protesters demanded the transfer to a Philippine
jail of Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, who was convicted a year ago of
raping a Filipino woman but has remained under U.S. government custody.
(AP, 12/2/07)
2007 Dec 6, In the Philippines 14
Muslim Abu Sayyaf were sentenced to life in prison for the 2001
kidnapping of a US missionary couple and 18 others in a yearlong jungle
ordeal that prompted US-backed offensives against the guerrillas.
(AP, 12/6/07)(SFC, 12/7/07, p.A4)
2007 Dec 7, Two gunmen barged into
a central Philippine town hall and killed the vice mayor, a human
rights advocate who had condemned a series of killings of left-wing
activists.
(AP, 12/8/07)
2007 Dec 13, In the Philippines
leaders of 2 separatist groups met with Seif al-Islam Khadafy, son of
Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy, and said they should be able to resolve
differences that dated back to 1976 when the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front broke from the Moro National Liberation Front.
(SFC, 12/15/07, p.A9)
2007 Dec 15, Filipino soldiers
killed Abdulmibin Sakandal, a suspected Abu Sayyaf militant wanted by
Philippine and US authorities for alleged involvement in the 2000
kidnappings of 21 people, including Western tourists.
(AP, 12/16/07)
2008 Jan 3, In the southern
Philippines 2 al-Qaida-linked Muslim militants, including one wanted
for the 2001 kidnapping of three Americans and 17 other people from a
resort island, were captured in separate raids. Troops arrested
suspected Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Tuwatin Anahalul in Zamboanga del Sur
province's Margusatubig town.
(AP, 1/4/08)
2008 Jan 15, In the Philippines
gunmen ransacked a Roman Catholic school in the southernmost Tawi-Tawi
Island, fatally shooting Reynaldo Roda (55), a priest who had received
death threats from Muslim militants and abducting a teacher.
(AP, 1/16/08)
2008 Jan 30, In the southern
Philippines a homemade bomb ripped through a fish processing plant,
killing three and injuring 27 workers.
(AP, 1/30/08)
2008 Jan 31, In the southern
Philippines Abu Sayyaf commander Wahab Upao, a Muslim militant who
allegedly gunned down a Roman Catholic priest in a raid on a school,
was killed in a clash with troops pursuing an Indonesian terror suspect.
(AP, 1/31/08)
2008 Feb 2, Taiwan's president
inaugurated a runway on disputed Taiping island in the Spratlys chain
in the South China Sea, sparking a protest from the Philippines which
also claims sovereignty over the isle.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 4, In the Philippines at
least 7 civilians, including four children, were killed during a
military operation against al-Qaida-linked militants on southern Jolo
island.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 12, The Philippine
government called for calm amid growing street protests calling for
President Gloria Arroyo to resign over a corruption scandal which has
implicated her husband and a close aide.
(AP, 2/12/08)
2008 Feb 15, In the Philippines
thousands of protesters massed in Jakarta with some hurling tomatoes at
images of President Gloria Arroyo and her husband, demanding their
ouster for alleged corruption.
(AP, 2/15/08)
2008 Feb 17, Mohamad Baehaqi (26),
an alleged member of the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah terror
network, was arrested with two Filipinos during a raid on their
hide-out in the southern Philippines.
(AP, 2/19/08)
2008 Feb 25, Thousands of
Filipinos took to the streets and flocked to churches in a fresh wave
of nationwide protests on the anniversary of a 1986 grass-roots revolt,
calling for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign.
(AP, 2/25/08)
2008 Feb 29, Two former Philippine
presidents, once bitter foes, joined tens of thousands of protesters at
a rally to press for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's resignation
over a raging corruption scandal.
(AP, 2/29/08)
2008 Mar 1, In the Philippines a
bomb wounded two Filipino soldiers and four women at a bar near a
military camp on Jolo Island, where US troops were conducting
counterterrorism training.
(AP, 3/2/08)
2008 Mar 3, A Red Cross official
said more than 900 people have been stricken with typhoid in a city
just south of the Philippine capital Manila. The disease was spread out
in 18 villages.
(AP, 3/3/08)
2008 Mar 5, Philippine officials
said soaring oil prices and the rising cost of living have driven
nearly four million people in the Philippines back into poverty.
(AP, 3/5/08)
2008 Mar 10, A Manila court
acquitted the flamboyant widow of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos of 32
counts of illegally transferring wealth abroad during her husband's
20-year rule.
(AP, 3/10/08)
2008 Mar 26, Philippine farmers
warned that the country was facing a serious rice supply crisis, as the
government signed a deal to import rice from Vietnam to boost local
reserves at a time of rising prices and shrinking global stocks.
(AP, 3/26/08)
2008 Mar 26, In the southern
Philippines a passenger boat with 14 people on board capsized, leaving
only one known survivor, a man who swam several hours to shore. Most of
the missing were children.
(AP, 3/28/08)
2008 Mar 27, The editor-in-chief
of the local edition said the Philippines will get its own edition of
Playboy magazine, only without the nudity that made the US version
famous. The Philippine edition will be launched on April 2 as a "mature
lifestyle magazine."
(AFP, 3/27/08)
2008 Apr 4, President Gloria
Arroyo announced major investments to overhaul the Philippine
agriculture sector, as the country grapples with soaring rice prices
that have raised fears of social unrest.
(AFP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 8, A Philippine court
sentenced 9 military officers to jail terms ranging from 12 to 40 years
for taking part in a foiled coup plot against President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo in 2003.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2008 Apr 15, In the northern
Philippines army troops clashed with communist rebels, leaving three
people dead in Quezon province's General Nakar town.
(AP, 4/15/08)
2008 Apr 18, In the northern
Philippines a passenger bus plunged into a ravine, killing nine people
and injuring more than 20.
(AP, 4/18/08)
2008 Apr 24, It was reported that
the US military’s health insurance program has been swindled out of
more than $100 million over the past decade in bogus claims filed in
the Philippines, where US bases were closed in 1992.
(SFC, 4/24/08, p.A4)
2008 Apr 30, In the southern
Philippines troops captured a camp that housed a bomb-making factory of
al-Qaida-linked militants after heavy fighting.
(AP, 4/30/08)
2008 May 3, The Asian Development
Bank, announced emergency funding to help poor countries struggling
with rice prices that have nearly tripled in four months. The
Manila-based organization made the announcement while meeting in Spain.
(AP, 5/4/08)
2008 May 5, In the southern
Philippines communist rebels ambushed an army convoy with land mines
and machine-gun fire, killing three soldiers and wounding 13.
(AP, 5/5/08)
2008 May 16, In the Philippines at
least 8 bank employees and a security guard were lined up and shot dead
in the head in a bloody bank robbery in Cabuyao, Laguna province.
Another employee was in critical condition at a hospital. On May 30
Ricardo Gomolon (38), a former soldier, was among three people arrested
over the murder of 10 people in one of the Philippines' deadliest bank
robberies. 2 suspects were still at large.
(AP, 5/16/08)(AFP, 5/30/08)
2008 May 17, In the Philippines
Tropical Storm Halong made landfall in Pangasinan province, northwest
of Manila. By May 20 the death toll from the storm had reached 37.
(AP, 5/21/08)
2008 May 19, In the Philippines a
man strafed several houses during a shooting spree in a town south of
Manila, killing eight people and wounding six others. Five of the dead
were children aged 4-12 years who were sleeping inside their homes in
Calamba town. The lone suspect escaped.
(AP, 5/19/08)
2008 May 22, Thailand's PM
Sundaravej pledged to sell rice to Manila at "negotiable" rates, as he
began a visit to the Philippines, which is working to boost its stocks
of the grain.
(AFP, 5/22/08)
2008 May 25, In the southern
Philippines at least 17 marines were wounded and two Muslim separatist
rebels killed as fierce prolonged fighting broke out on Basilan island.
(AFP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 29, In the southern
Philippines 2 people were killed and 21 injured when suspected
terrorists detonated a bomb outside a US aid project office near an air
base.
(AP, 5/29/08)
2008 Jun 8, In the Philippines a
television news team was abducted in Sulu province by armed men,
believed to be members of Abu Sayaf. A cameraman was released on June
12, but 2 colleagues remained captive.
(SFC, 6/11/08, p.A15)(AP, 6/13/08)
2008 Jun 19, Philippine officials
said Indanan township mayor Alvarez Isnaji and his son Jun, who
negotiated with al-Qaida-linked rebels for the release of an abducted
TV news anchor and three other people, have been arrested as suspects
in the June 8 kidnappings.
(AP, 6/19/08)
2008 Jun 20, Typhoon Fengshen
smashed into the Philippines' third largest island packing winds of 140
kilometers (87 miles) an hour as residents braced for flooding,
landslides and big waves. Flash floods and landslides triggered by
Typhoon Fengshen left more than 700 dead or missing in various parts of
the country.
(AFP, 6/20/08)(AFP, 6/21/08)(Econ, 6/28/08, p.49)
2008 Jun 21, In the Philippines
the Princess of Stars, carrying 862 passengers and crew, ran aground
and capsized 3 km (2 miles) from Sibuyan island in the centre of the
archipelago. Nearly 800 passengers were missing as Typhoon Fengshen
killed scores and left a trail of destruction across the archipelago.
Only 48 survivors of the ferry were found, including 28 rescued the
next day.
(Reuters, 6/22/08)(AP, 6/23/08)(Econ, 6/28/08, p.49)
2008 Jun 28, In the southern
Philippines some 50 New People's Army guerrillas attacked a police
station and burned a cellular phone transmission tower, sparking
clashes with government forces that killed at least 11 people.
(AP, 6/29/08)
2008 Jun 29, In the central
Philippines heavy rains have triggered a landslide that killed at least
four people and injured 26 others.
(AP, 6/30/08)
2008 Jun 30, In the Philippines
gunmen killed journalist Bert Sison (62) and slightly wounded one of
his daughters, whose sister pretended to be dead and escaped unharmed.
The two daughters, also correspondents of the "Regional Bulletin,"
which reports mostly crime stories and sometimes carries articles
critical of politicians.
(AP, 7/1/08)
2008 Jul 1, Officials said Maoist
rebels in the southern Philippines killed two soldiers in a public
market and torched a cellular phone tower as the latest flare-up in the
40-year-old insurgency showed no sign of abating.
(AP, 7/1/08)
2008 Jul 3, In the southern
Philippines suspected communist guerrillas launched a series of
attacks, lobbing a grenade that killed three people and raiding a
police station and a gold mining company.
(AP, 7/3/08)
2008 Jul 16, The Philippine
government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front reached a deal to create
an ancestral homeland for 3 million Muslims.
(WSJ, 7/17/08, p.A8)
2008 Jul 24, In the southern
Philippines a homemade bomb ripped through a commuter bus, wounding 27
people. In North Cotabato province communist rebels attacked a banana
farm associated with Dole Foods Co. and a land mine hit a security
vehicle rushing to intervene, killing one and wounding three others.
(AP, 7/24/08)
2008 Jul 28, In the Philippines a
packed commuter bus strayed into an oncoming lane and crashed head-on
into another bus on a highway south of Manila, killing at least 11
people and injuring 29 others.
(AP, 7/29/08)
2008 Aug 4, The Philippine Supreme
Court, acting on a petition by Christian politicians, blocked the
signing of a key accord granting an expanded southern homeland to
minority Muslims as part of a deal to end decades of bloody Islamic
rebellion.
(AP, 8/4/08)(Econ, 8/9/08, p.41)
2008 Aug 10, In the Philippines
nearly 3,000 troops and police launched an attack after guerrillas
defied an ultimatum to withdraw from five towns in North Cotabato
province.
(AP, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 11, Philippine attack
aircraft and artillery bombed Muslim rebel positions for a second day,
raising fears of a humanitarian disaster in North Cotabato province
with nearly 130,000 refugees forced to flee. Members of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) attacked a town on the island of
Basilan, around 200 km (125 miles) southwest of where the main fighting
was taking place, and disrupted voting in local elections there.
(Reuters, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 12, Muslim guerrillas
began withdrawing from several occupied southern Philippine villages
following fierce fighting with government troops that has displaced
nearly 160,000 civilians during harvest time.
(AP, 8/12/08)
2008 Aug 15, In the Philippines at
least 15 hitchhikers were killed and 14 others injured when the truck
they were riding in plunged into a ravine outside Monkayo township in
the southern gold mining area on Diwalawal mountain.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 17, In the southern
Philippines Muslim guerrillas killed four soldiers and four militiamen
in an ambush of a military convoy.
(AP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 18, In the southern
Philippines separatists of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
attacked several towns and villages on Mindanao and killed 38 people.
(SFC, 8/19/08, p.A9)(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, Abdurahman
Macapaar (aka Commander Bravo) of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF), the Muslim rebel commander behind deadly raids in the
southern Philippines, declared an "all-out war" against the government,
saying his fighters were willing to die in battle.
(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, Five people were
killed as Typhoon Nuri slammed into the northern Philippines,
triggering heavy rain and warnings of possible storm surges.
(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 23, The Philippine
government said at least 48 soldiers and civilians and scores of Muslim
rebels have been killed in the southern Philippines in a week of
fighting triggered by the collapse of a peace deal. Muslim rebels urged
the Philippine government to halt a military offensive they say
threatens a years-long peace process and escalates violence in the
archipelago's troubled south.
(Reuters, 8/23/08)(AP, 8/23/08)
2008 Aug 25, A 41-year-old
Lockheed Martin C-130 military cargo plane crashed in the waters off
the southern Philippines. Two Philippine Air Force pilots and 7 crewmen
were feared dead.
(AFP, 8/26/08)
2008 Sep 1, In the southern
Philippines a homemade bomb exploded at a bus terminal, killing four
people and injuring more than a dozen in Digos city in Davao del Sur
province.
(AP, 9/1/08)
2008 Sep 6-2008 Sep 7, In the
southern Philippines 6 people were killed after a landslide triggered
by heavy rains buried houses in the village of Masara. Another
landslide the next day killed 5 more people there. At least 16 people
were left missing.
(AFP, 9/6/08)(AP, 9/7/08)
2008 Sep 22, In the Philippines 16
gold miners went into shafts during a typhoon that rapidly flooded the
tunnels in Benguet province. 2 bodies were retrieved on Sep 25, 3
miners were rescued on Sep 29, 3 more on Sep 30, and 3 more on Oct 1.
Two bodies were recovered on Oct 2 and one miner remained missing. The
last of the miners was rescued on Oct 3. He was then arrested by
police, who had a warrant for his arrest on unrelated theft and robbery
charges.
(AP, 9/29/08)(AP, 9/30/08)(AP, 10/1/08)(AP,
10/2/08)(AP, 10/4/08)
2008 Sep 26, In the Philippines
three soldiers were killed after they tripped landmines planted near a
New People's Army camp outside Lingig township in Surigao del Sur
province. Informants reported that eight guerrillas had been killed
since Sep 24 when army soldiers overran a rebel camp.
(AP, 9/26/08)
2008 Oct 8, Pirates in Somalia
released 15 Filipino seamen and four other crewmen of a chemical tanker
hijacked nearly two months ago, but were still holding 67 other
Filipino sailors.
(AP, 10/9/08)
2008 Oct 9, Somali pirates freed
20 Filipino seamen from a hijacked ship they held for more than 80
days, as the Philippine government doubled the pay of sailors passing
through pirate-infested international waters. 47 Filipinos on three
other ships were still in the hands of Somali pirates. Pirates also
released 29 Iranian crew members and their cargo ship hijacked off
Somalia's coast in late July.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 Oct 14, The Philippine
Supreme Court threw out a proposed accord to grant minority Muslims
expanded autonomy after Christian protests and renewed fighting
convinced the government to abandon the deal. The accord would have
expanded an existing six-province Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao,
subject to the agreement of local residents.
(AP, 10/14/08)
2008 Oct 15, Armed pirates
hijacked a Japanese-operated bulk carrier with 21 Filipino crew members
in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia. The ship African Sanderling was
released on January 12, 2009.
(AP, 10/15/08)(AP, 1/13/09)
2008 Oct 19, The Philippine
government said it would pay 50,000 (1,063 dollars) for every M-16
assault rifle surrendered by a communist insurgent who abandoned the
long-running rebellion.
(AP, 10/19/08)
2008 Oct 24, In the Philippines
communist rebels triggered a land mine and opened fire on a Philippine
army unit in an ambush that killed six soldiers on Mindanao Island. The
rebels manually triggered the US-made claymore mine as the soldiers
hiked past on a narrow mountain trail and then opened fire.
(AP, 10/25/08)
2008 Oct 25, In the Philippines
communist guerrillas, disguised as anti-narcotics agents, barged into a
poorly guarded prison in Quezon province southeast of Manila and freed
seven of their comrades in a daring 15-minute attack staged without
firing a shot.
(AP, 10/26/08)
2008 Nov 4, In the Philippines a
ferry packed with commuters overturned after it was buffeted by monsoon
winds and huge waves, killing 42 people including 11 children. 76
people were rescued from the Don Dexter Cathlyn. It capsized shortly
after leaving port in central Masbate island. Officials the next day
detained the captain on suspicion of operating the vessel illegally.
(AP, 11/4/08)(AP, 11/5/08)
2008 Nov 6, In the central
Philippines a small ferry capsized during a storm at Bagongon islet. 11
passengers drowned in waters just 200 yards offshore. 30 survived a 3
remained missing.
(AP, 11/6/08)(AP, 11/7/08)
2008 Nov 10, Pirates near Somalia
hijacked the MT Stolt Strength. a Philippines chemical tanker with 23
crew, bringing the total number of attacks in waters off the African
nation this year to 83. The ship was freed on April 21.
(AP, 11/11/08)(AFP, 4/21/09)
2008 Nov 17, In the Philippines a
gunman on a motorcycle killed Arecio Padrigao, a hard-hitting Filipino
radio commentator, in front of Bukindon State University in southern
Gingoog city. This was the seventh deadly attack on reporters in the
Philippines this year.
(AP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 19, Philippine health
officials said at least two people have died and more than 1,500 are in
hospital following a suspected outbreak of cholera in the southern
Philippines.
(AFP, 11/19/08)
2008 Nov 20, In the Philippines a
mother and her 3 children were among the six people killed after a
mudslide triggered by days of heavy rain buried houses in a southern
gold mining town.
(AP, 11/21/08)
2008 Dec 6, In the Philippines
gunmen armed with automatic weapons and grenades fired on police
officers who were tailing them, leaving at least 17 people dead in a
fierce shootout in a Manila suburb.
(AP, 12/6/08)
2008 Dec 7, In the Philippines Abu
Sayyaf and Muslim militants engaged in fierce clashes with governments
troops who took over a southern village on Basilan island notorious as
a hide-out for kidnappers and al-Qaida-linked rebels. At least five
soldiers were killed and dozens wounded.
(AP, 12/8/08)
2008 Dec 8, In the Philippines
suspected extortionists armed with automatic rifles and
rocket-propelled grenades attacked two cargo ships docked at a southern
port, wounding two crew members.
(AP, 12/9/08)
2008 Dec 14, In the northeastern
Philippines an overcrowded ferry capsized just short of its destination
in rough seas, causing terrified passengers to leap into the sea. At
least 30 people drowned.
(AP, 12/15/08)(AP, 12/16/08)
2008 Dec 23, In the southern
Philippines members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front attacked
villages in the Sultan Kudarat township, killing 9 civilians.
(SFC, 12/27/08, p.A6)
2009 Jan 14, Philippine officials
said weeklong rains have triggered flash floods, landslides and sea
surges across the Philippines, leaving at least 11 people dead and
another 8 missing.
(AP, 1/14/09)
2009 Jan 15, In the Philippines
gunmen abducted three Red Cross workers in a southern Muslim militant
stronghold, prompting a search operation by US-backed Filipino troops
through dense jungles in the country's worst foreign hostage crisis in
nearly eight years. Seven suspects including three police officers were
later arrested in connection with a wide-ranging official enquiry into
the abductions on the southern island of Jolo. Eugenio Vagni (63),
Italian Red Cross worker, was released on July 11. A Swiss and a
Filipino, had been freed earlier in the year by the militants.
(AP, 1/15/09)(AFP, 4/6/09)(AP, 7/11/09)
2009 Jan 29, In the Philippines a
powerful explosion destroyed a fireworks factory and a nearby
electronics plant south of Manila, killing at least six people and
injuring more than 40.
(AP, 1/29/09)
2009 Feb 9, In the Philippines Abu
Sayyaf militants holding three Red Cross workers tried to break a
military cordon that has boxed them in for days, setting off a clash
that wounded five marines and sparked concerns over the hostages'
safety.
(AP, 2/9/09)
2009 Feb 11, The Philippines
Supreme Court said in a statement it had ordered Manila to negotiate
with the US authorities for an "appropriate agreement on detention
facilities under Philippine authorities" for Lance Corporal Daniel
Smith. In 2006 Smith was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in jail
for raping a Filipina after he took part in military exercises north of
Manila in 2005.
(AFP, 2/11/09)
2009 Feb 13, In the southern
Philippines 9 gunmen snatched a Sri Lankan peace activist from his
home, the latest in a wave of kidnappings blamed on al-Qaida-linked
militants.
(AP, 2/13/09)
2009 Mar 10, The Philippine
president signed a law affirming sovereignty over islands also claimed
by China and Vietnam, sparking protests over the control of strategic
South China Sea islands. The Chinese Embassy issued a statement
expressing its "strong opposition and solemn protest" over the signing
of the law.
(AP, 3/11/09)
2009 Mar 17, Philippine marines
and al-Qaida-linked militants holding three Red Cross workers clashed
for a second day, leaving three troops and up to 7 Abu Sayyaf militants
dead.
(AP, 3/17/09)(AP, 3/18/09)
2009 Mar 29, In the Philippines
Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad threatened to behead one of three
Red Cross hostages, two Europeans and a Filipino, at 2 p.m. March 31,
unless police and militiamen withdraw from 15 villages on Jolo island.
(AP, 3/30/09)
2009 Mar 30, Fishermen in the
Philippines accidentally caught and soon ate a megamouth shark, one of
the rarest fishes in the world with only 40 others recorded to have
been encountered. The 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) 13-foot (4-meter)
megamouth died while struggling in the fishermen's net off Burias
island.
(AP, 4/7/09)
2009 Apr 2, In the southern
Philippines Islamic militants released a Filipina Red Cross aid worker,
leaving a Swiss and an Italian still held captive.
(AFP, 4/2/09)
2009 Apr 3, The Philippines said
it will take needed steps to be stricken from a list of four nations
blacklisted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development as uncooperative tax havens.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 4, In the Philippines two
homemade bombs exploded hours apart in the same bus, wounding the
conductor and five passengers in an attack police said may have been
the work of an extortion gang led by former Muslim rebels.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 18, Philippine security
forces rescued Andreas Notter (38), a Swiss Red Cross worker held
hostage since January 15 by Islamic guerrillas. The government said it
had no immediate details about a 2nd International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) hostage, Italian national Eugenio Vagni (62), who was
believed to be unwell and in need of hernia surgery.
(AFP, 4/18/09)
2009 May 3, In the southern
Philippines 7 people were killed and 1,000 forced to flee their homes
as fresh fighting broke out when MILF separatist guerrillas attacked
civilians. The 12,000-member MILF has been waging a decades-old
insurgency to set up a Muslim state in the southern Philippines, where
Christian settlers now outnumber the original inhabitants.
(AFP, 5/5/09)
2009 May 5, The Philippine
military rejected a US government assessment that labeled the country's
south as a terrorist safe haven. The US State Department reported last
week in its annual assessment of worldwide terrorism that the southern
Mindanao region, specifically predominantly Muslim Sulu province,
remains a sanctuary for extremists.
(AP, 5/5/09)
2009 May 7, In the Philippines
fighting in the southern island of Jolo broke out after Muslim
extremist Abu Sayyaf members ambushed Chief Superintendent Julasirim
Kasim, killing him and four of his men. Five rebels were also killed in
the attack. In retaliatory attacks that followed more than 20 Muslim
extremists were killed.
(AP, 5/11/09)
2009 May 8, In the northern
Philippines Typhoon Cha-hom dumped heavy rains overnight, triggered
landslides and left at least 10 people dead and four missing.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 15, In Indonesia 6
Asia-Pacific countries, meeting at the World Oceans Conference, agreed
on a management plan to protect one of the world's largest networks of
coral reefs, promising to reduce pollution, eliminate overfishing and
improve the livelihoods of impoverished coastal communities. The Coral
Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security covered
an area defined as the Coral Triangle, which spans Indonesia, the
Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East
Timor.
(AP, 5/15/09)
2009 May 17, In the Philippines
police recovered the severed head of Doroteo Gonzales (61), a farm
owner kidnapped on April 25 by Muslim militants. Authorities said he
was likely beheaded because his family failed to pay ransom.
(AP, 5/18/09)
2009 May 18, In the southern
Philippines mudslides tumbled down a rain-soaked mountain, burying
dozens of shanties in a gold mining village and killing at least 26
people.
(AP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 30, In the central
Philippines communist rebels threw two grenades at army troops helping
treat villagers, killing two soldiers and a civilian who covered a
child with his body during the attack in Northern Samar province.
(AP, 5/31/09)
2009 Jun 6, Philippine government
troops seized a Muslim separatist rebel camp in southern Maguindanao
province following three days of fighting that left 30 guerrillas dead.
(AP, 6/6/09)
2009 Jun 9, In the Philippines
lawyer and radio commentator Crispin Perez Jr. was killed in Mindoro
Occidental province by motorcycle-riding gunman. His wife said the
attack may have been work-related.
(AP, 6/17/09)
2009 Jun 11, In the southern
Philippines Ansar Venancio, a Filipino bomb expert from the Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI) group, was arrested in Marawi city. He is thought to
have carried out a deadly attack on Manila in 2000.
(AFP, 6/11/09)
2009 Jun 12, In the Philippines
fighting with the militant Moro Islamic Liberation Front left 10 dead
and 20 wounded. Columnist Antonio Castillo was killed in Masbate
province by motorcycle-riding gunmen.
(AP, 6/13/09)(AP, 6/17/09)
2009 Jun 12, In New Jersey an
Indictment was unsealed today against three individuals who allegedly
hacked into the telephone systems of large corporations and entities in
the US and abroad and sold information about the compromised telephone
systems to Pakistani nationals residing in Italy. Italian law
enforcement conducted searches of approximately 10 locations in four
regions of Italy and arrested the financiers of the hacking activity.
Those financiers allegedly used the information to transmit over 12
million minutes of telephone calls valued at more than $55 million over
the hacked networks of victim corporations in the US alone.
(SFC, 6/16/09,
p.A2)(http://newark.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2009/nk061209.htm)
2009 Jun 13, In the Philippines
Al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants holding Eugenio Vagni (62), an
Italian Red Cross worker captive, killed five Philippine marines and
wounded 10 others in an ambush on southern Jolo Island.
(AP, 6/13/09)
2009 Jun 20, In the southern
Philippines suspected Muslim guerrillas hurled two grenades near a
crowded town plaza where a beauty contest was being held, killing at
least one person and wounding 32 others in the predominantly Christian
town of Maasim, Sarangani province.
(AP, 6/21/09)
2009 Jun 27, In the Philippines
two soldiers were shot dead by suspected Abu Sayyaf members as they
stepped outside of their camp to buy cigarettes in Tipo-tipo town,
Basilan Island.
(AP, 6/28/09)
2009 Jun 28, In the Philippines 7
policemen were killed in an attack by suspected Muslim guerrillas on
the restive southern island of Basilan.
(AFP, 6/28/09)
2009 Jul 5, In the southern
Philippines suspected Muslim guerrillas detonated a bomb near a Roman
Catholic cathedral in Cotabato city, killing at least five people and
wounding 46.
(AP, 7/5/09)
2009 Jul 7, In the Philippines a
crude bomb hidden on a motorcycle exploded in a port city on southern
Jolo island where al-Qaida-linked militants are active, killing at
least two people and wounding 24.
(AP, 7/7/09)
2009 Jul 15, In the Philippines
five employees of a logging company, including a woman, were seized by
eight guerrillas belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in
Kapai township in Lanao del Sur province. Army troops and police
rescued the victims on July 18 near Kapai without a fire fight. Basit
Kauyag was identified as the leader of the kidnappers.
(AP, 7/19/09)
2009 Jul 19,
Philippine officials said hundreds of marines and army troops have been
deployed to two islands in the southern Philippines for a new offensive
aimed at eradicating al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants by the end of
this year.
(AP, 7/19/09)
2009 Jul 23, The Philippine
government ordered its military to stop offensives against Muslim
separatist rebels in a bid to restart peace talks, a move welcomed by
the guerrillas.
(AP, 7/23/09)
2009 Aug 1, In the Philippines
former President Corazon Aquino (b.1933) died. The "people power"
uprising she led in 1986 brought down the repressive 20-year regime of
Ferdinand Marcos and served as an inspiration to nonviolent resistance
across the globe. Due to the time difference her death was reported in
the US on July 31.
(Reuters, 8/1/09)
2009 Aug 6, In the northern
Philippines heavy monsoon rains inundated wide areas, triggering flash
floods and landslides that killed 21 people, including two French
citizens and a Belgian who were touring Mount Pinatubo. Typhoon Morakot
left seven others missing in landslides and floodwaters.
(AP, 8/7/09)(AP, 8/9/09)
2009 Aug 12, Philippine troops
overran two jungle camps of al-Qaida-linked militants in their
deadliest clash in years, with 23 soldiers and 31 guerrillas killed.
The two camps served as a stronghold and a bomb factory for the Abu
Sayyaf on Basilan. Troops found several bombs, booby traps and 15
assault rifles and grenade launchers.
(AP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 19, Philippine troops
clashed with about 30 Muslim gunmen, who took over Mantangule islet in
the southern part of Palawan Island, killing at least seven and
capturing two.
(AP, 8/19/09)
2009 Aug 21, Philippine police
arrested Dinno-Amor Rosalejos Pareja, also known as Khalil Pareja, the
alleged leader of a radical Islamist group believed to be responsible
for one of Southeast Asia's deadliest terror attacks. Pareja is
allegedly the leader of the Rajah Solaiman Movement, a group of
Christian converts to Islam. The group is believed to be behind the
2004 ferry bombing that killed 116 people in Manila Bay. It was the
second-most deadly terrorist attack in Southeast Asia after the 2002
attack on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people.
(AP, 8/21/09)
2009 Sep 6, In the southern
Philippines the Superferry 9, carrying nearly 1,000 passengers, sank
leaving at least 9 people dead. After rescue efforts one passenger was
left unaccounted.
(AFP, 9/6/09)(AP, 9/7/09)
2009 Sep 20, In the southern
Philippines clashes erupted when al-Qaida-linked militants resisted
attempts by government forces to serve arrest warrants on 3 of their
commanders. Troops took control of the Abu Sayyaf group's biggest camp
on the island of Jolo following rounds of air strikes.
(AP, 9/20/09)(AP, 9/21/09)
2009 Sep 21, Philippine marines
were ambushed by Abu Sayyaf fighters, as they were leaving a
newly-captured camp on Jolo Island, resulting in the deaths of 8
troopers and 5 guerrillas. Abu Sayyaf reinforcements had come in by
boat from the nearby islands of Basilan to help their comrades on Jolo.
(AFP, 9/21/09)
2009 Sep 26, In the northern
Philippines nearly a month's worth of rain fell in six hours as
Tropical Storm Ketsana slammed ashore, stranding thousands on rooftops
in the capital's worst flooding in more than 42 years.
(AP, 9/26/09)
2009 Sep 27, In the northern
Philippines rescuers plucked bodies from muddy floodwaters and saved
drenched survivors from rooftops. The death toll in the Philippines
from Typhoon Ketsana reached 246 with 42 missing. The economic cost was
nearly $100 million.
(AP, 9/27/09)(AP, 9/30/09)
2009 Sep 29, In the southern
Philippines 2 US soldiers were killed in the deadliest attack against
American troops there since they began helping local forces stamp out
Muslim extremists in 2001.
(AFP, 9/29/09)
2009 Oct 3, In the Philippines
Typhoon Parma cut a destructive path across the northern Philippines
killing at least 30 people and leaving more than a dozen villages
flooded, piling further misery on the Southeast Asian nation after
floods from Ketsana claimed 298 lives.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 9, In the northern
Philippines driving rain on the heels of back-to-back storms triggered
dozens of landslides across, burying more than 225 people, washing away
villages and leaving almost an entire province under water.
(AP, 10/9/09)(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 11, In the southern
Philippines 6 gunmen, believed to be Islamic militants, kidnapped
Michael Sinnott, a 78-year-old Irish priest near Pagadian. They later
demanded $2 million for his release. Sinnott was freed on Nov 12. Irish
and Filipino authorities said neither country paid any of the
kidnappers' $2 million ransom demand.
(AFP, 10/11/09)(AP, 10/31/09)(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Oct 15, A Philippine military
tribunal acquitted 11 officers of plotting a foiled Feb, 2006, coup
against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 17, In the Philippines a
propeller-driven plane on a test flight crashed and burst into flames
in a suburb of Manila, killing at least four people onboard.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 22, In the Philippines
outbreaks of leptospirosis, spread by water contaminated with the urine
of rats, dogs and other animals, have compounded the problems faced
after back-to-back storms since late last month killed more than 900
people. The WHO said it will send an emergency team to help fight a
bacterial disease outbreak that has killed at least 148 people and
sickened nearly 2,000 in and around the flood-hit capital.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 31, In the Philippines
Typhoon Mirinae, the 4th since late September, battered Manila and
surrounding provinces, sending residents of one town clambering onto
rooftops to escape rising waters. 20 people wee left dead with east 5
missing.
(AP, 10/31/09)(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 2, In the central
Philippines a fire swept through a residential building as people slept
in a slum community, killing 16 residents including women and children.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 3, In the Philippines
government troops attacked an Abu Sayyaf camp in the rebels' southern
stronghold before dawn, triggering a five-hour clash in which five of
the al-Qaida-linked militants were killed and one government militiaman
was wounded.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, Tropical Storm Mirinae
slammed into Vietnam's central coast, unleashing heavy rains and winds
and forcing more than 80,000 people to evacuate before losing steam as
it moved inland. The storm killed at least 98 people. Mirinae also
killed two people in Cambodia and left 19 people dead and three missing
in the Philippines.
(AP, 11/2/09)(AP, 11/3/09)(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 13, Philippine Pres.
Gloria Macapagal signed a bill criminalizing all forms of torture and
prohibiting state authorities from suing secret detention centers.
(SFC, 11/14/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 19, In Las Vegas Manny
Pacquiao of the Philippines demolished Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto to
become the only man in history to win seven titles in as many weight
classes.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 23, In the southern
Philippines dozens of gunmen hijacked a convoy carrying journalists,
and family and supporters of a candidate for provincial governor,
killing 57 people in Maguindanao province. Maguindanao is part of the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which was created as part of a
1996 peace agreement with a large Muslim rebel group.
(AP, 11/23/09)(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 26, In the Philippines
Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Ampatua, surrendered to presidential
adviser Jesus Dureza in the provincial capital. He had allegedly led
dozens of police and pro-government militiamen in the Nov 23 massacre
of an election convoy.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Dec 1, In the Philippines
Andal Ampatuan Jr., the heir of a powerful clan, was charged in
connection with the Nov 23 ambush in which 57 people, more than half
journalists, were slaughtered. Three witnesses, who escaped, reported
seeing him and some 100 gunmen stopping cars at the scene of the
massacre.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 4, Philippine security
forces raided four compounds belonging to a powerful clan suspected in
the massacre of 57 people in the Philippines' worst political violence.
Soldiers using metal detectors, sniffer dogs and an excavator dug up
more than a dozen crates of bullets in the mansion of a local mayor
linked to last week's massacre.
(AP, 12/4/09)(Reuters, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 5, Philippine Pres.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo placed Maguindanao province under martial law.
Government troops were reported to have taken Andal Ampatuan Sr., the
former provincial governor, into custody for his clan’s role in the Nov
23 massacre that left 57 dead.
(SFC, 12/5/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 6, Philippine troops
arrested 62 people and discovered another major weapons cache after
martial law was imposed in southern Maguindanao province following the
country's worst political massacre on Nov 23. About 20-30 armed
followers of the Ampatuan clan, the main suspect in massacre, opened
fire on police commandos while they were patrolling Datu Unsay
township, near the site of the massacre. Government negotiators were
trying to convince the gunmen to surrender to avoid bloodshed that
could harm civilians.
(AP, 12/6/09)(AP, 12/7/09)
2009 Dec 9, Philippine police
named 161 suspects in the Nov 23 massacre of 57 people in the country's
worst election violence, including government militiamen led by members
of a powerful clan facing murder and rebellion charges.
(AP, 12/9/09)
2009 Dec 10, In the southern
Philippines suspected bandits trying to evade police serving arrest
warrants abducted dozens of villagers and were still holding 57
hostages after releasing all the schoolchildren they had seized.
(AP, 12/10/09)
2009 Dec 11, In the Philippines
government-armed former militiamen freed 10 more hostages seized in the
remote south, and their leader demanded that murder charges against
them be dropped before they release 47 others.
(AP, 12/11/09)
2009 Dec 13, In the southern
Philippines tribal gunmen freed 47 hostages, but the region continued
to be wracked by violence. Suspected Islamic radicals staged a deadly
jail break in which 31 inmates were freed, including comrades accused
of beheading marines.
(AP, 12/13/09)(SSFC, 12/13/09, p.A4)
2034 Estimates in 2006 predicted
that the population of the Philippines would double by this time.
(Econ, 2/25/06, p.50)
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Subject = Philippines