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.”
 

MANILA (UCAN): For the first time, the incorruptible heart of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, will visit the Philippines The relic, which seldom leaves a Capuchin monastery in Italy, will be in the country for at least 20 days, from October 6 to 26.
 
Father Joselin Gonda, rector of the National Shrine of St. Padre Pio, said the Philippines will have the distinction of having the relic longer than any other country in which it has been exhibited in so far.
 

Manila (UCAN): An 18-year old catechist, Jun Mark Luda, and his 15-year old cousin, Marialyn Luda, were killed in a bomb explosion in the town of Isulan in the southern Philippine province of Sultan Kudarat on September 2.
 
At least 14 others were reported injured in the blast at an Internet cafe in the town.
 
The attackers, thought to be an extremist group opposed to a peace deal with Manila, came five days after another bomb explosion killed three people and injured 36 others in the same town.
 

MANILA (UCAN): On August 30, the Philippine Bureau of Immigration reaffirmed its intention to deport Australian missionary, Sister Patricia Fox, dismissing a motion for reconsideration filed by her lawyers saying it failed to raise new matters that could warrant the reversal of the expulsion order (Sunday Examiner, May 6, May 13, June 24, July 29). 
 

MANILA (UCAN): The Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cubao, Quezon City, the Philippines was temporarily closed on August 30 after a young man, thought to be mentally disturbed, reportedly entered the church on August 25 and desecrated the tabernacle and the Blessed Sacrament. 
 
Bishop Honesto Ongtioco of Cubao, ordered a two-day suspension of all religious activities. He said the Catholic community would undertake acts of penance and reparation.
 

MANILA (UCAN): Philippine senator, Bam Aquino, asked Pope Francis to pray for the he country, especially for poor Filipinos who suffer the brunt of drug-related killings. The legislator met with the pope on the sidelines of the 9th annual meeting of the International Catholic Legislators Network, held from August 23 to 26, in Rome.
 
“Holy Father, I have some letters from our religious leaders in the Philippines. Our country needs your prayers,” Aquino told the pope during a private audience at the Vatican.
 

COTABATO (UCAN): Islamic Relief Worldwide, an international relief organisation, distributed at least 3,870 kilogrammes of meat to 1,800 displaced families living in temporary shelters on the outskirts in war-torn Marawi in the southern Philippines to mark the observance of Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) on August 22.
 
Maryann Zamora, a spokesperson for the group in the Philippines, said the animals were slaughtered to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice even his son to God.