Photo: Cats

A queen and her kittens rest at the back of the Sulu provincial hospital in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

Teachers To Boycott Village, Youth Polls In Southern Philippines

Government teachers in Sulu province listen to a forum Sunday Oct. 14, 2007 in Jolo town. More than 1,000 teachers sought help from Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan saying that hundreds of them in the province have not been paid their salaries the past months by the Department of Education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and that their contributions to the state pension agency which are worth over 600 million pesos since 2003 are missing. The teachers have threatened to stage a mass protest and boycott village and youth polls on Oct. 29 should ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan fails to act on their problems. More than 5,000 teachers are currently teaching in Sulu province, about 950 kilometers south of Manila. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 14, 2007) – Thousands of disgruntled government teachers in Sulu province in southern Philippines have threatened to stage a mass protest and boycott upcoming village and youth polls if the Muslim autonomous region fails to release their salaries.

The teachers claimed that many of them have not been paid their salaries the past year and that their contributions worth more than P600 million to the state pension were allegedly missing.

More than 1,000 public school teachers on Sunday sought the help of Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan and asked him to tell President Gloria Arroyo of their plight.

Teachers from different towns trooped to the Sulu State College in Jolo town and sent an emissary to Tan for a dialogue. The forum lasted more than 6 hours with Tan assuring the teachers that he would discuss their problems with ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan.

Jackaria Rasik, president of the Sug Educators Forum, said the teachers will boycott the village and youth elections on Oct. 29 if their salaries are not paid.

“We will boycott the polls. The teachers are fed up of these recurring problems. The ARMM should pay the salaries of the teachers or else there won’t be any elections in the whole of Sulu,” he said during the forum.

He said the government should also investigate corruption allegations in the ARMM.

Abdulbasit Pawakil, president of the larger Federation of Sulu Teachers, also asked for a government audit and to investigate the problems of delayed and missing salaries and contributions to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

He said that as of 2003, more than P389 million of teachers’ contributions to GSIS were missing and that this has ballooned to over P600 million and yet ARMM continues to deduct insurance premiums from their salaries.

“What is going on? We know the problems, yet nobody is acting on it,” he said.

Tan said the teachers were asking for a formal Congressional or Senate investigations into the missing GSIS contributions and salaries and jail those who would be found guilty of embezzling funds.

“Today, I join you in all your sacrifices and difficulties and I will assure all the teachers that these problems will be investigated,” he said.

Last month, more than 500 teachers also sought Tan’s help about their missing salaries. (Mindanao Examiner)

Sulu Province – The Land Of Treasures

A diver examines his scuba gear at Ramos beach in Panglima Tahil town in Sulu province in southern Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Sulu Provincial Tourism Council)

SULU, Philippines - Far-flung Sulu is the southernmost part of the Philippines, lying between the Sulu Sea on the north and the Celebes Sea on the south. With fishing as its most important industry, it is classified as a First Class Province in terms of income.

The glorious Sulu Sea is dotted with coral reefs, such as the pearl farm at Marungas Island, and provides some of the world's best dive spots. Tubbataha Reef is its best known site, a 33,200-hectare underwater splendor drawing divers from all over the world with its marvelous marine wilderness and special ecosystem.

Because of its fabulous beauty, the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park was honored by UNESCO in December 1993 as the first natural site in the Philippines to be inscribed in the prestigious World Heritage List.
It is the best known site in the Sulu Sea, drawing divers from all over the world with its underwater splendor and the rich marine life that abounds in the reef. Snappers, sweet-lips, groupers, angel fish, and morays can be found amid huge fan corals and sponges.

Large schools of barracudas, jacks, rainbow runners, and surgeons pass by while tunas race about.

The Sulu provincial capital is Jolo town. Its walled city is the smallest in the world, with its historic brick walls that lay proof to the city’s historic past.

Another attraction of the city is the Provincial Capitol with its moorish-inspired architectural design.

The province nurtures a harmonious coexistence of the two most dominant religions in the Philippines, Islam and Catholicism. There are beautiful Muslim mosques situated in each village, most notable being the majestic Tulay Mosque which now towers the Sulu skyline.

The existing churches of Christian faith in the province are the Jolo Parish Church, Sacred Heart of Jesus Chapel, and Jolo Evangelical Church.

Geography

Sulu consists of over 400 scattered and almost isolated islands, stretching from the tip of Zamboanga southwestward towards Borneo.

It forms one of the three connections of the Philippines with Sabah. Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan is planning to convert some of these islands into world-class resorts because of their pristine and white sand beaches to help promote tourism.

Climate

Sulu is outside of the typhoon belt. Its climate is warm. Humidity is generally moist, but precipitation is constant throughout the year. February is considered the coldest month while May to August are the hottest, with mean relative humidity of 86%, one of the hottest in the country.

January to April is considered the dry period, with a monthly average of 7 to 9 inches of rainfall. The mean annual temperature is 26 degrees centigrade and the maximum is 27 degrees centigrade.

Language and Dialect

The principal dialect of the natives of Sulu is Tausug. The rest speak Samal and other dialects such as Visayan, Chavacano and Tagalog. English is widely spoken in Sulu.

Major Industries

While there is an absence of huge mineral deposits, Sulu nevertheless abounds in marine and timber resources and is believed rich in fossil fuel. Lying outside the typhoon belt, it is blessed with a year-round bounty from both land and sea.

Due to the character of the soil and climate, the province of Sulu grows a greater variety of products than any other part of the country. In addition to all the crops of the islands, which are abaca, coconut, and fruits like oranges, lanzones, and jacks, other fruits that do not grow in the northern islands are harvested here, such as the mangosteen berries and durian.

In September, some six tons of mangosteen and durian were shipped out to supermarkets in Manila and the fruits were completely sold out in hours. The shipment, Sulu Gov. Tan says, is part of the Fruits for Hope program. The international non-government organization, the Asia-American Initiative and Filipino Senator Richard Gordon also helped in the Fruit for Hope program.

Fishing is the most important industry. Sea turtles and fish of all kinds are caught. Otherwise the people engage in the industries of boat building, mat weaving, coffee processing, and fruit preservation (durian and mangosteen).

Trepang and pearls are extensively gathered in Sulu. Trepang, also called bêche-de-mer, is a sea cucumber of the genus Holothuria of the southern Pacific and Indian oceans, and is often dried or smoked for use as an ingredient in soup, especially in China and Indonesia. (Department of Tourism/Sulu Provincial Tourism Council)

Photo: Two Filipino Boys Swim In Dirty Flood Water In Jolo Island

Two Filipino boys swim in dirty flooded street in Jolo island in the southern Philippines. New Sulu Governor Sakur Tan vows to fight poverty and promote security and peace on the island-province, one of five that comprises the Muslim autonomous region. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

Photo: Philippine Troop In Jolo Island

A Philippine soldier holds his machine gun as he rests under a house in the island of Jolo in the Sulu Archipelago, where security forces are pursuing members of the terror group Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

Photo: Historic Bud Dajo In Sulu Archipelago In Southern Philippines

A Muslim village sits on the foot of the historic Bud (Mount) Dajo in Jolo island in the Sulu Archipelago in the southern Philippines.U.S. and Philippine troops are currently holding joint amphibious training off the Sulu Archipelago. U.S. forces under the command of Major General Leonard Wood, a naval detachment comprising 540 soldiers, along with a detachment of native constabulary, armed with artillery and small firearms, attacked a village hidden in the crater of the dormant volcano Bud Dajo on March 10, 1906. No American soldiers were killed, though sixteen were wounded; more than 600 mostly unarmed Muslim Moro villagers were killed. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

Photo: Mangrove Used As Firewood

A village store in Jolo island sells mangrove. Illegal cutting of mangrove in the southern Philippine island of Jolo (top photo) in Sulu Archipelago and Zamboanga City in Mindanao continues unabatedly and authorities do nothing to stop the locals from destroying the marine habitat of many animals and fishers. The wood is used as firewood and sells five pesos ($0.10) a bundle. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

Oplan Ultimatum 2, Inilunsad Sa Sulu!

Mga bala ng .50-caliber machine gun, automatic rifles, radio transceivers at satellite phone na nabawi ng mga sundalo mula sa nakubkob na kampo ng Moro National Liberation Front sa lalawigan ng Sulu. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

SULU (Mindanao Examienr / 28 Apr) – Isinailalim na sa mahigpit na siguridad ang lalawigan ng Sulu matapos na maglunsad ang militar ng panibagong opensiba upang tugisin ang Abu Sayyaf at Moro National Liberation Front rebels.

Mismong si Armed Forces chief General Hermogenes Esperon ang nag-utos na habulin si MNLF leader Ustadz Khabir Malik, na siyang nasa likod ng atake sa isang marine base at municipal hall ng Panamao nuong Abril 13.

Binansagan ni Esperon na “Oplan: Ultimatum 2” ang nasabing opensiba kontra grupo ni Malik at Abu Sayyaf sa Sulu.

“We have ordered troops to pursue the terrorists and the fugitive Malik. Our operation is now called Oplan Ultimatum 2,” ani Esperon sa pahayagang Mindanao Examiner.

Nagtungo si Esperon kamakalawa sa Sulu at nakipagpulong sa mga commanders nito at binisita at pinarangalan ang mga tropang tumutugis sa mga armado.

“Malik remains the subject of our hot pursuit. It is very clear that he committed homicide. We now consider him as a fugitive,” dagdag pa ni Esperon.

Mahigit sa 8,000 sundalo ang naka-deploy ngayon sa Sulu, ngunit walang bagong ulat na nagkaroon ng sagupaan sa pagitan ng militar at grupo ni Malik o Abu Sayyaf.

Hinihinalang nasa bundok ng Mount Tumatangis si Malik. Wala na rin umanong suporta ito mula sa ibang mga MNLF commanders dahil sa ginawang atahe na ikinamatay ng 3 sundalo at isang teenager. (Mindanao Examiner)

Photo: U.S. Troops In Southern Philippines

A US soldier mans his machine gun as his unit returns to a Philippine Army base Thursday 26 Apr 2007 in the southern Jolo island, where Filipino troops are battling Moro National Liberation Front rebels and Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants tied to al-Qaeda terror network. Washington is helping the Philippine military fight terrorism. Hundreds of US soldiers are deployed in the troubled southern region. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

Photo: Tulay Mosque Of Jolo Island

The magnificent Tulay mosque -- built from donations or zakat -- stands majestically in the middle of downtown Jolo in the southern Philippines, with four towers being used to call every Muslims to prayers several times a day. It is the center of Islamic faith on the island in the Sulu Archipelago. The Tulay mosque now towers Jolo's skyline. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Photo: Sulu Provincial Capitol Building

The beautiful architecture of the Sulu Provincial Capitol Building is an awe to many visitors in the exotic Jolo island in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Balikatan 2007: US Brings War Games To Jolo Island

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An aerial view of the dangerous Jolo island in the southern Philippines where thousands of U.S. and Filipino troops begin 18 Feb. 2007 a three-week joint military drills, dubbed as Balikatan 2007, aimed at enhancing combat capabilities of troops. Filipino troops are battling Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants on the island, about 950 km south of Manila.

And this would be followed with similar anti-terror trainings in Tawi-Tawi island near the Sabah border and continued in central Mindanao island.

The Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya groups are blamed for the string of bombings in the Philippines and Indonesia that had already killed scores of people the past years.

U.S. and Philippine troops would also embark on humanitarian missions, that included infrastructure projects and medical outreach in poor Muslim areas in during the exercises, U.S. Air Force Major John Redfield, spokesman of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines, tells Mindanao Examiner. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Photo: MNLF Rebels Lording In Jolo Island

NOT IN AFRICA, BUT JOLO ISLAND. Moro National Liberation Front rebels,
armed with machine guns, patrol a village in the southern Filipino island of Jolo. (Mindanao Examiner Photo/Mark Navales)

MNLF Rebels Free Jolo Hostages

Hostages arrival in Zamboanga City

Dolorfino

Cedo, Santos
Dureza, Cedo, Santos, Dolorfino

Philippine troops guard the airport in Jolo island. While a military chopper flies a reconnaissance mission over the island where Moro National Liberation Front rebels seized senior Philippine defense officials and soldiers on Friday and freed two days later after a successful negotiations. The separatist rebel group signed a peace agreement with Manila in September 1996, but many disgruntled rebels accused the Arroyo government of reneging on the peace deal and threatened to wage war. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 04 Feb) – Philippine Muslim rebels freed Sunday a defense official and a marine general along with soldiers they seized after a peace meeting on the troubled island of Jolo, about 950 km south of the country.

Moro National Liberation Front rebels under Habier Malik and Khaid Ajibun have held since Friday Major General Mohamad Dolorfino, of the Philippine Marines; Colonels Davy Ramon and Cipriano Bayan, of the Philippine Army; Defense Under Secretary Ramon Santos and 21 soldiers and staff of Presidential peace adviser, Jesus Dureza.

“General Dolorfino, Under Secretary Santos and all members of the Office of the Presidential Assistant and their security team have boarded two helicopters. In other word, they are already out of the MNLF camp on their way here. They will fly back to Manila,” said Brigadier General Juancho Sabban, commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade in Jolo island.

Dolorfino’s group was freed shortly before 4 p.m.

Sabban said the incident did not affect the government’s anti-terror campaign on the island. “This has no effects on our operation,” he said.

Dolorfino’s group was seized after reports of a scheduled tripartite meeting between the MNLF, the Organization of Islamic Conference and the Philippines on Feb. 6-8 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia had been shelved off by the Arroyo government.

Philippine military officials denied that the general’s group was held hostage.

Dolorfino said rebels prevented them to leave Jolo island until the issue on the holding of the tripartite meeting has been resolved. “We were asked to stay in Jolo until such time the issue of the holding of the tripartite meeting is resolved,” he said.

“Actually, we were asked to stay (in the camp) so that the government could be pressured to push through (with the tripartite meeting),” he told radio station dxBB on Sunday.

The rebels, who signed a peace agreement with Manila in September 1996, have previously accused the Arroyo government of failing to comply with the accord.

Manila has agreed to proceed with the OIC-led conference next month. The OIC, which brokered the peace talks, organized the tripartite meeting to discuss the full implementation of the agreement.

The gunmen earlier demanded Manila to free detained rebel chieftain Nur Misuari, who is facing rebellion charges in Manila, so he can lead the MNLF to the tripartite conference.

Dureza flew to Jolo Saturday and negotiated with the rebels to free Dolorfino’s group. He said Manila agreed to preliminary meetings that will eventually lead to the holding of tripartite conference. Dureza said Dolorfino’s group was treated well.

Misuari signed a peace deal with Manila that ended more than 20 years of bloody fighting in the southern Philippines. After the peace agreement was signed, Misuari became the governor of autonomous region.

Despite the agreement, many former guerrillas were disgruntled with the peace deal, saying, the Arroyo government failed to comply with some of its provisions and uplift their standards of living. They accused Manila of failing to develop the war-torn areas in the south, which remain in mired in poverty, heavily militarized and dependent financially on the government.

And in November 2001, on the eve of the elections in the Muslim autonomous region, Misuari also accused the government of reneging on the peace agreement, and launched a new rebellion in Jolo island and Zamboanga City, where more than 100 people were killed.

Misuari then escaped by boat to Malaysia, but had been arrested and deported to the Philippines.

The OIC also wanted Misuari freed from jail to head the MNLF delegation to Saudi Arabia for the tripartite meeting. OIC representatives, led by Egyptian Sayed El-Masry, who is adviser to OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, visited Jolo island in May last year.

Masry said the Philippines and MNLF leaders must sit together and discuss the problems affecting the implementation of the peace accord. He said the tripartite meeting is important to finally settle the problems. (Mindanao Examiner)

Photo: Soldier Looks At Wanted Poster Of Jemaah Islamiya, Sayyaf Militants; Karen Hughes In Jolo Island

A Filipino soldier in Jolo island in the southern Philippines looks at photos of wanted Jemaah Islamiya bombers Dulmatin and Umar Patek and Abu Sayyaf militants coddling the duo tagged as behind the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 2002 people, including 88 Australians. And Karen Hughes, Under Secretary for Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the U.S. State Department, center, poses with young Muslim well-wishers during her visit Thursday 25 Jan 2007 in Jolo. (Mindanao Examiner Photos exclusive for The Australian)

Abu Sayyaf Leader Abu Solaiman Is Killed In South RP

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Filipino troops, guided by U.S. military intelligence, raided an Abu Sayyaf hideout on Bud Dajo (also called Mount Daho) in Jolo's Talipao town and killed a senior militant leader, Jainal Antel Sali, Jr. alias Abu Solaiman. A regional Filipino army spokesman, Maj. Eugene Batara said the death of Sali was big blow to the Abu Sayyaf. (Go to mindanaoexaminer.com to read more)

More Troops Sent To Jolo To Fight Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiya Ahead Of Condoleezza Rice Visit

Western Mindanao military chief Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo inspects seized Abu Sayyaf bomb materials and munitions in Jolo island on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2006. And the body of slain Abu Sayyaf leader, Jainal Antel Sali, Jr. alias Abu Solaiman. A Philippine Air Force helicopter gunner aims his machine gun over Bud Dajo in Jolo's Talipao town, where Solaiman was killed in fierce firefight with troops. (Mindanao Examiner Photos)

JOLO ISLAND (Mindanao Examiner / 17 Jan) – The Philippine military on Wednesday sent more troops to the troubled southern island of Jolo and vowed to crush the Abu Sayyaf group tied to al-Qaeda terror network and the Jemaah Islamiya.

A Philippine Air Force C130 cargo plane transported soldiers and weapons from Manila to help the hundreds of troops already in Jolo to fight the Abu Sayyaf.

The offensive began in August last year when the military launched a series of campaigns aimed at capturing or killing terror leaders, including two Jemaah Islamiya militants Dulmatin and Umar Patek, blamed for the spate of bombings and attacks on civilian and government targets.

Soldiers drove in a convoy of trucks and armored vehicles and unloaded munitions and rockets and caches of other armaments inside an army base in Jolo town, where a contingent of U.S. troops are stationed and helping the Philippine military defeat terrorism on the island.

The arrival of the troops came ahead of a planned visit in Jolo of U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. A highly placed government source said Rice, who had earlier served as National Security Advisor under President George W. Bush, would visit the island to inspect American troops before the start of new joint RP-US anti-terror exercises next month.

On Tuesday, Filipino troops, guided by U.S. military intelligence, raided an Abu Sayyaf hideout on Bud Dajo (also called Mount Daho) in Jolo’s Talipao town and killed a senior militant leader, Jainal Antel Sali, Jr. alias Abu Solaiman. A regional Filipino army spokesman, Maj. Eugene Batara said the death of Sali was big blow to the Abu Sayyaf.

Bud Dajo, an active volcano on the island, has a treacherous terrain, dangerous crevices and covered with thick canopy of trees, making it extremely difficult for air surveillance to track down the enemies.

“Let this be a warning to terrorists that there is no escape and we will get you, sooner or later. The Abu Sayyaf should surrender peacefully,” said Army Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo, the chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command.

Cedo was in Jolo on Wednesday and inspected the body of Sali, the spokesman of the dreaded Abu Sayyaf group, believed to have masterminded many bombings in the southern Philippines.

A UH-1H Huey helicopter later flew Cedo and his commanders over Bud Dajo, where troops were tracking down about 60 Abu Sayyaf militants, who escaped Tuesday’s fighting.

Sali was buried Wednesday in Jolo after relatives and friends positively identified the body. A bullet fired by a soldier tore a hole on Sali’s chest. A piece of wood, about an inch long, embedded on his left cheek, was pulled out by two imams hired by the military to clean and bury the corpse in accordance with the Islamic tradition.

“It was him, alright. It was Abu Solaiman. His time finally has come and it’s the end of the road for Solaiman,” Karim Muktar, a former Muslim rebel-turned-government soldier, told the Mindanao Examiner.

But even after his death, some soldiers cursed Sali. “His soul is already in hell. Abu Solaiman was so notorious that many innocent people – men, women and children – died because of him,” one soldier, who gave his name only as William, said.

Sali was included in the U.S. list of most wanted Abu Sayyaf terror leaders and had been implicated in the kidnappings and killings of California man Guillermo Sobero in 2001 and Kansas missionary Martin Burnham in 2002.

Gracia Burnham was eventually rescued in 2002 by U.S. and Filipino soldiers after a firefight in Zamboanga del Norte province.

Sali, 41, was also linked to the kidnapping of U.S. citizen, Jeffrey Craig Schilling, in 2000 when he visited Jolo island with his Filipino girlfriend.

Schilling was held hostage for more than seven months by the Abu Sayyaf and during his captivity, some of the demands made by the Abu Sayyaf were the release of international terrorist Ramsey Yousef and the blind Muslim cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman from U.S. prison, the withdrawal of American forces from the Middle East and the payment of $10 million in ransom. Schilling eventually managed to escape from captivity on April 12, 2001.

A U.S. government dossier on Sali, a native of Basilan island, said he had planned and perpetrated several brutal acts of terrorism involving kidnapping U.S. and foreign nationals and bombing civilian targets.

In April 2004, Sali helped supervise members of the Abu Sayyaf's Urban Terror Group for planned bombing activities. Filipino authorities filed charges against Sali and two other leaders for their involvement in a series of bombings in October 2002 in Zamboanga City that killed at least a dozen Filipino civilians, an American soldier and wounding more than 200 others.

Sali also headed the unit responsible for the October 17, 2002, bombings of two department stores in Zamboanga City. He also planned the May 2001 Dos Palmas resort kidnapping in the central Philippine island of Palawan where they took 20 hostages, including Burnham and his wife, Gracia and Guillermo Sobero.

During the movement of the hostages in June 2001 by the Abu Sayyaf, two hostages, who were foreign national employees of the resort, were beheaded on Basilan Island.Sali's group along with 17 of the hostages then proceeded to Jose Torres Memorial Hospital in Lamitan town in Basilan island where they seized and detained additional hostages.

Later in June 2001, the Abu Sayyaf beheaded Sobero. In January 2002, Sali made statements during a radio interview denouncing the arrival of U.S. military advisors in the Philippines to participate in joint military exercises with the Armed Forces of the Philippines designed to locate and combat the Abu Sayyaf and rescue the hostages.

Sali held several senior positions of influence within the Abu Sayyaf. In February 2002, the U.S. indicted Sali and four other Abu Sayyaf leaders. Three years later, Sali accompanied Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and another senior leader Isnilon Hapilon to a meeting in the southern Philippines with senior leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization operating in Southeast Asia. The JI leaders included Dulmatin and Patek, who were both suspected of playing a role in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 mostly foreigners.

The Abu Sayyaf group got its name from "Abu Sayyaf," meaning "Father of the Sword" or "Bearer of the Sword" in Arabic. The group is also known as Al-Harakat Al-Islamiyah, meaning "the Islamic Movement." Since 1997, the Abu Sayyaf has been designated by the State Department as a "foreign terrorist organization."

The group's written charter states, among other things that the purpose of the group is either to establish an Islamic government in the southern Philippines or to "reach Martyrdom in Allah 's way" and that the group considers jihad (holy war) "as the only method and alternative to stop and root out aggression, tyranny, injustice, and oppression." (Mindanao Examiner)

Photo: Jolo's Version Of Hong Kong's Rickshaw

Jolo's version of Hong Kong's rickshaw, the pedicab is a major mode of transportation in this southern Filipino island, about 950 km south of Manila. A typical scene from Jolo's central market road in downtown Tulay area.(Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Photo: Troops Bound For Jolo Island To Join Hunt vs Sayyaf, JI

Philippine troops in Zamboanga City board a ferry bound for Jolo island where security forces are pursuing members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and Jemaah Islamiya, blamed for the spate of bombinbgs late Wednesday Jan. 10, 2007 that killed at least 7 people and wounded about 4 dozens more in the troubled island, but mineral-rich region of Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)

Photo: Jolo Island Park In Sulu Archipelago

Colored lights and fountains adorn the park fronting the Sulu provincial capitol building on the Muslims island of Jolo. The beautiful facade of the mosque-inspired architecture is a favorite spot of promenaders in Jolo, about 960 kms south of Manila. (Mindanao Examiner)