Cecil Morella
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/ 5 December 2007

World-famous rice terraces under threat

After putting his seedlings to bed in the world-famous Banaue rice terraces in the northern Philippines, farmer Gabriel Balicdon works as a tourist guide and buys rice from the grocer. Built by Ifugaos — illiterate mountain farmers and woodcarvers — at about the same time the Pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall of China were being constructed, the terraces look like giant staircases leading to the clouds.

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/ 30 November 2007

Philippines hunts for more suspects in rebellion

Philippine authorities launched a manhunt on Friday for more suspects accused of helping stage a dramatic but short-lived rebellion against the government, which was put down by the military. The small band of primarily armed-forces officers, who seized a luxury hotel on Thursday, were bundled off by police after a lightning raid.

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/ 17 October 2007

Philippines attempts to sell deadly volcanoes to tourists

Rickety old jeeps barrel through a dry northern Philippines riverbed, setting off a dust storm that coats the visitors bouncing around on the back seat. The landscape around Mount Pinatubo is evolving again 16 years after a gigantic volcanic eruption killed more than 1 500 people and sent a cloud of ash into the atmosphere cooling world temperatures for years.

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/ 18 March 2007

The wild, wet world of river trekking

"There is no right or wrong way," the trail master tells his nine fellow bushwalkers as they trace a little-known passage through the Philippines’ Sierra Madre range. "But whining is not allowed." The city slickers enter a different world in the sleepy village of Daraitan just 50km east of Manila. Here there are no roads, no bridges, no electricity, no telephones, and no 24-hour convenience stores.

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/ 9 November 2005

Cuba seek to regain world boxing crown

Cuba will be looking to put the Russian Federation in its proper place as the boys from the Caribbean seek to regain their place atop amateur boxing’s pecking order at the world championships in China from Saturday. The Cubans have sent four reigning Olympic gold medalists to the China slugfest led by Odlanier Solis, who has stepped up a division after also winning the heavyweight gold in the last world championships.

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/ 14 February 2005

Abu Sayyaf claims Valentine’s Day bombings

The Abu Sayyaf, the Muslim militant group that claimed responsibility for a series of Valentine’s Day bombings in the Philippines, has been blamed for the country’s worst terrorist attacks. The group was founded in the early 1990s with seed money from Saudi-born September 11 terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.

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/ 13 July 2004

Hostage takers put pressure on Philippines

With the life of a kidnapped Filipino on the line, the Philippines sent out ambiguous and contradictory signals on Tuesday on the hostage takers’ key demand for an early withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis went on an Arabic television station on Monday to appeal for the life of father-of-eight Angelo de la Cruz.