General Santos (UCAN): “The mere suggestion of affiliation to a terrorist communist group poses a serious threat to the lives, dignity and security of the persons singled out,” Sister Susan Bolanio of the Oblates of Notre Dame, said on October 2, condemning her being red tagged—labelled a Communist rebel—by the military, describing it as a “farcical lie.”
 
The sister called on authorities to investigate those behind efforts to red tag her, saying it endangers her life.
 

MANILA (UCAN): Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila has expressed regret over the decision of the president, Rodrigo Duterte, to dismiss a top labour official for allegedly failing to put a stop to workers’ strikes.
 
Bishop Pabillo said the president’s decision to fire Joel Maglunsod, which was announced on October 2, was “very unfortunate” because the official understood the plight of workers.
 

Koronadal City (UCAN): “As a diocese, our stand is no to gambling,” A campaign against gambling recently launched by the Diocese of Marbel, in south Cotabato, Mindanao, the Philippines in is proving a success after a mayor pledged to remove lottery booths in the city.
 
The diocese is conducting its campaign against gambling not only from the pulpit, but also among Christian communities.
 
The move comes after financiers set up lottery kiosks around the city of Koronadal (also called Marbel) and nearby towns.

MANILA (UCAN): Catholic humanitarian agencies from around the world have vowed support for Philippine relief and rehabilitation efforts in the wake of the devastation wreaked by Typhoon Mangkhut (Ompong) in the country’s northern provinces.
 
Caritas Internationalis launched an appeal to help finance relief operations for thousands of families affected by the super typhoon.
 
“After the storm has passed people will need help to restore their livelihoods,” it said in a statement.
 

MANILA (UCAN): At least 65 people were reported killed while 43 others remained missing in the wake of Typhoon Mangkhut (known in the Philippines as Ompong) that savaged the northern part of the Philippines on September 15.
 
Most of the fatalities came from the northern Cordillera Administrative Region where the search for people trapped in an abandoned mine continued on September 17.
 

Manila (UCAN): Retired army Major-General Jovito Palparan, a decorated Philippine Army veteran, was sentenced to life in prison on September 17 for the “kidnapping and illegal detention” of two university students who went missing in 2006.
 
The Malolos Regional Trial Court found Palaparan guilty of kidnapping university students, Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan.
 

MANILA (UCAN): The family of Mary Jane Veloso, who has been languishing on Indonesia’s death row since a 2011 conviction for drug trafficking, decried what her father, Cesar, described as the Philippine government’s lack of concern about the notorious case.
 
Veloso was arrested in 2010 by Indonesian authorities after 2.6 kilogrammes of heroin were found inside her luggage on her arrival in Jakarta from Malaysia. She claimed to have been duped being a drug mule by two recruiters: Maria Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao. 

Hong Kong (SE): The Philippine Bureau of Immigration denied Australian Sister Patricia Fox an extension of her missionary visa which expires on September 5, according to a CBCP News  report. She sought the issuance of another missionary visa after it expired on September 5.
 

MANILA (UCAN): Environmental groups in the Philippines marked the Church’s Season of Creation, which runs from September 1 to October 4, with weeklong demonstrations against dirty energy sources in the country. 
 
Residents from communities near coal mines held simultaneous protest rallies in different parts of the country to dramatise their call for the government to end its “coal obsession.”