Philippine troops kill one militant after jailbreak

Troops hunting for dozens of Islamic militants who made a stunning jailbreak on a southern Philippine island killed one of the escapees and recaptured another Monday

The weekend escape was the latest in an upsurge of violence on Basilan island that prompted the local government to call on President Gloria Arroyo to implement emergency rule there and send in more troops.

Much of the violence has been blamed on the Abu Sayyaf, a small band of militants accused of carrying out the nation's worst attacks, and whose members were among the 31 prisoners who escaped from Basilan's main jail.

"(We need) a state of emergency, if only to finish this once and for all, to apprehend and prosecute all of these Abu Sayyaf," Basilan vice governor Al Rasheed Sakalahul told AFP on Monday.

"We need more troops in the province."

As he made his appeal, soldiers and police fanned out across Abu Sayyaf strongholds on Basilan in search of the escapees.

Two of them were cornered in a jungle area that is known to be an Abu Sayyaf hideout, sparking a brief gunbattle, according to Basilan police commander Superintendent Abubakar Tulawie.

One of the escapees was killed in the clash, and the other was captured, Tulawie told reporters.

Authorities said over 100 militants stormed the poorly guarded Basilan jail before dawn on Sunday to secure the release of inmates. One prison guard and one of the militant raiders died during gunbattles.

About 20 of the escapees were Abu Sayyaf members, according to Sakalahul.

But two senior members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a bigger rebel group that has been fighting for an independent homeland in the southern Philippines, were also among those who escaped, Sakalahul said.

The MILF guerrillas had been jailed for their role in beheading 10 of 14 Philippine Marines snared in an ambush on Basilan in 2007.

Sakalahul said the MILF may have also been involved in organising the mass escape.

But the 12,000-strong MILF, which is holding peace talks with the government, denied it was behind the jailbreak.

"It is not the handywork of the MILF. That is very clear. The perpetrators apparently belong to the Abu Sayyaf group," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu told AFP.

US troops have been deployed on Basilan and other parts of the southern Philippines since late 2001 to train the local military in how to combat the threat from Muslim insurgents.

But kidnappings, murders and bomb attacks have continued throughout that time, and there has been a spike in violence in recent months.

One of three hostages kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf on November 10 was murdered last week, with his severed head dumped in a Basilan park.

The following day a college professor was abducted, and police again blamed the Abu Sayyaf, which is believed to have only a few hundred militants in total.

The Abu Sayyaf was also blamed for the beheading of a school principal on nearby Jolo island last month, just days before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Manila to affirm security ties.

In September, two US soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb on Jolo in the deadliest attack on American forces so far blamed on the Abu Sayyaf.

Abu Sayyaf attacks have left at least 48 Filipino soldiers and 71 insurgents dead since January, according to an AFP tally based on police and military reports.

Twilight New Moon

I'm really excited watching the continuation of twilight because I love the story of being a vampire. My mother and I is really like the love story between human(Bella) and vampire ( Edward). Here is the summary of the movie:

On her 18th birthday, Bella Swan wakes up from a dream in which she sees herself as an old woman. She expresses her distaste with growing older than her boyfriend Edward Cullen, a vampire who stopped aging at 17. Edward's adoptive family throws Bella a birthday party. While unwrapping a gift, Bella gets a paper cut, which causes Edward's brother, Jasper, to be overwhelmed by her blood's scent and attempt to kill her. Realizing the danger he and his family pose to Bella, Edward decides to end their relationship, and the Cullens move away from Forks, Washington.

Edward's departure leaves Bella heartbroken and depressed for months. However, when her father, Charlie, attempts to send her to live with her mother, Bella agrees to spend time with her friends. After seeing a movie with Jessica, Bella sees a group of men who remind her of a time when Edward rescued her previously, and she is surprised to see a vision of Edward warning her against approaching them. Bella discovers that all thrill-seeking activities grant her visions of Edward. She also finds comfort in her deepening friendship with Jacob Black, a cheerful companion who eases her pain over losing Edward. When Jacob is unable to see Bella for weeks, she discovers that he is a werewolf, an age-old enemy of vampires. Jacob's pack members are on constant patrol for Victoria, a vampire searching to kill Bella, leaving Jacob little time to spend with Bella. Alone, Bella returns to seeking thrill-inducing activities.

A series of miscommunications leads Edward to believe that Bella has killed herself while cliff-diving. Distraught over her supposed suicide, Edward flees to Italy to provoke the Volturi, a powerful coven of vampires who are capable of killing him. Alice, Edward's sister, and Bella rush to Italy to save Edward, and arrive just in time to stop him. However, the Volturi decide that Bella, a human who knows that vampires exist, must either be killed or transformed into a vampire herself. Alice stops them from killing her by showing them a vision of the future in which Bella has been transformed. Once they return home to Forks, Edward tells Bella that he has always loved her and only left town to protect her. She forgives him, and the Cullens vote in favor of Bella being transformed into a vampire, to Edward and Jacob's dismay. Edward gives Bella a choice: either she lets Alice change her after their graduation, or, if Bella agrees to marry him, he will change her himself. However, Jacob reminds them of a treaty the Cullens have made with the werewolves: they will not attack each other, as long as the Cullens never bite a human.

More Update about Maguindanao Massacre

Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., a suspect in Monday's massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province, submitted himself to authorities on Thursday.

A field report by ANC's Patricia Evangelista said Ampatuan Jr. turned himself in to Presidential Adviser on Mindanao Affairs Jesus Dureza.

Ampatuan Jr. was brought to a waiting helicopter bound for General Santos City, where he was turned over to Department of Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.

From General Santos City, Ampatuan Jr. is expected to be brought to Manila for the formal inquest.

Ampatuan Jr. is expected to be brought to Manila where he will be subjected for questioning for his alleged involvement in the election-related massacre in Ampatuan town on Monday.

The hand over took place after police and military personnel secured the provincial capitol of Maguindanao and the municipal compounds of Shariff Aguak and Ampatuan towns early Thursday.

Authorities said the local government compounds were taken over to assure the peaceful turnover of Ampatuan Jr. to Dureza.

4 other suspects in massacre named

Meanwhile, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ronaldo Puno on Thursday revealed that the entire Ampatuan clan will undergo investigation for their alleged role in the murders of 57 people, including journalists and supporters of a rival political clan in Ampatuan, Maguindanao last Monday.

In a press conference, Puno said that aside from Ampatuan Jr., the DOJ has listed four other people as suspects in the crime, including Maguindanao police provincial director Senior Superintendent Abusana Maguid, Shariff Aguak police Chief Inspector Sukarno Dikay, a certain SPO2 Bakal, and an Inspector Diobingan.

He said the four were implicated in the murders based on the statements of alleged survivors of the massacre.

Puno said Dureza had given an ultimatum to the Ampatuan clan to surrender Datu Unsay town Mayor Andal "Unsay" Ampatuan Jr. for questioning about the massacre or face the full force of the law.

Puno said law enforcers secured the provincial capitol of Maguindanao and the municipal halls of Shariff Aguak and Ampatuan and disarmed a total of 437 militiamen in the province to prevent further bloodshed.

No appeasement, negotiation

"There has never been any appeasement. There has never been any negotiation. The families of the suspect have been told what our position is on the matter. As an example, if Datu Unsay Ampatuan would not have boarded the helicopter to bring him to General Santos City and then to Manila today, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police were prepared to take action and exert all physical force to make sure that the suspect would be brought to the inquest," he told reporters.

Puno said the Department of Justice (DOJ) will also investigate other members of the Ampatuan clan for possible complicity in the murders. "We have to address this crime very, very forcefully...That is not the end of the investigation until we find and bring to justice all of those who in one way or the other involved in the conduct in this heinous crime," he said.

Law enforcers on Thursday brought the Datu Unsay mayor via helicopter to General Santos City, where he will be turned over to Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.

At the start of the press conference, the DILG chief said the national government had to remain mum about some of the details of the government's investigation until after they were conducted. He said this included getting sworn depositions of four survivors of the massacre who were under the care of the Mangudadatus.

He said the National Police Commission has passed a resolution withdrawing the deputization of all local government units in Maguindanao. This means that the governor and municipal mayors in Maguindanao will no longer have direct supervision of police forces in their jurisdiction, he said.

"The general direction is to remove all policemen in Maguindanao and transfer them elsewhere," he said.

A local Army official, meanwhile, said the AFP has deployed one infantry battalion, one Scout Ranger battalion and two mechanized battalions to Maguindanao.

About the Massacre in Maguindanao

I'm really shock when my husband told me about the news this afternoon it is about the Ampatuan massacre in Maguindanao. Here is the news from the newspaper: A witness in the carnage in Maguindanao that claimed the lives of at least 57 people has surfaced and claimed that he was merely “following orders” and identified Andal Ampatuan Jr. as the alleged mastermind, according to an article posted on the Al-Jazeera news website.

“Anyone from the Mangudadatu clan – women or children – should be killed... We don't ask why, we just followed orders," the witness who identified himself as “Boy” told Al-Jazeera correspondent Marga Ortigas in an interview posted on the network’s website Thursday.

“Boy” said that the orders came directly from Andal Ampatuan Jr., Datu Unsay mayor, and whose family was also an ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Ampatuan Jr. is the son of Maguindanao Governor Andal Sr., both belonging to the powerful Ampatuan clan in Mindanao. The younger Ampatuan was charged with multiple murder before the Department of Justice Thursday when he was surrendered by a member of his family to authorities. He was tagged by, among others, the wife of his family’s political rival, Buluan Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, before she was killed last November 23, along with 56 others.

“Boy” admitted that he was one of the 100 armed men who stopped the six-vehicle convoy of the Mangudadatus who were on their way to file the certificate of candidacy of the Buluan mayor. Also in the convoy were Mangudadatu’s two sisters, two lawyers, and journalists who were to cover the event.

The group was massacred in a mountainous area, said “Boy,” adding that all the slain women were raped, and the journalists who were part of the convoy, also killed so that no one would talk about the incident.

The bodies of the victims were in shallow graves that were dug using an excavator, according to the report.

"Boy" said the whole process lasted little more than an hour before they abruptly abandoned the scene following a warning that members of the military were nearby, the report added.

"We didn't get to finish, which is why the excavator was left there," he said. "Someone called and said soldiers were on their way. I feel they have connections among the soldiers."

But “Boy” denied killing anyone, saying he just stood while the massacre was being carried out. He told Al-Jazeera that he was now in hiding for fear of his life.

Man On the Train

Did you already watch the movie “Man On The Train” ? it's all about the gangster and a teacher meet and realize that each might have been better suited to the other man's way of life. Milan, a taciturn and tired gangster who hides a couple of guns and a violent past, but would like to settle down. Manesquier, a retired teacher who has never the house where he was born and dreams of adventure. Their encounter will allow them to exchange lives for a rare moment of happiness. Milan learned how to wear slippers, smoke a pipe and talk about poetry while Manesquier learned gangster tricks and how to shoot a gun. The score, mainly played by an acoustic country guitar, is here to remind us that despite being in the most boring French countryside town, we are indeed watching a western and that things will eventually unwrap in some kind of climax.

The film only vibrates when the two characters are together. While the spectator will certainly enjoy the contrast between the two characters and their way to exchange lives, it's the actors and what they represent that is the main piece here. This film, show us that even the bad person have a chance to change their life to be a good person.