Bid to Impeach Philippine Leader Voted Down

By CARLOS H. CONDE
The New York Times
Published: August 24, 2006

MANILA, Aug. 24 — The Philippine Congress overwhelmingly rejected today an impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, but her opponents immediately vowed to press ahead with a campaign to present evidence against her to the public.

The House of Representatives voted 173 to 32 to accept a Justice Committee report recommending defeat of the impeachment motion that accused the president of fraud in the 2004 elections, corruption, human rights abuses and violation of the Constitution.

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Philippine rebels seize arms and take hostages

By Carlos H. Conde
International Herald Tribune
Published: August 23, 2006

MANILA — Communist guerrillas intensified their warfare against the Philippine government in two incidents Wednesday, raiding a military outpost and briefly holding dozens of schoolchildren hostage as they fled from pursuing soldiers, officials said.

Rigoberto Sanchez, a spokesman for the communist rebels, denied by telephone from Mindanao that any hostages had been taken. It was more likely, Sanchez said, that the rebels had simply passed through the village.

But Sanchez also added that the incidents were part of the rebels’ intensified warfare against the government in response to military abuses against civilians and political advocates.

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More damage from leaking tanker in the Philippines

By Carlos H. Conde
International Herald Tribune
Published: August 23, 2006

MANILA — The damage caused by the oil spill in the central Philippines worsened Wednesday after the slick reached the shores of an island province and threatened to spread into fishing grounds, officials and environmentalists said.

The Philippine Coast Guard disclosed that bunker oil continued to pour out of the tanker, possibly through a new leak. The slick threatens the Visayan Sea, which Greenpeace calls one of the most abundant fishing grounds in Asia.

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