Can't say I'm surprised.

The Philippines has long been a hotbed for extremists.

A lot of Al Qaeda there too. I was surprised it didn't get real crazy there when everyone was getting uppity about that stupid Mohammed film.

The majority of the violence has been on Mindanao, which is far to the south of Manila. That's where Abu Sayaf is located, and it's the Muslim portion of the country. It's also where most of the kidnappings, and the fighting has gone on. There have been incidents in Manila, but not many compared to the southern portion of the country.

how come it seems i find stuff like this on ats first?

as i am currently in manila this was a bit of a shock as things have been rather calm, and the fact that the Muslim extremist group is in peace talks (and sounding like doing well). in fact there was a call for calm regarding that video from them.

nice to know the embassy hasn't said boo about it here so far. the Philippines has 3 groups that tend to run amok the Muslim group, the communist group and the cia all like to play games here. but things have been calm recently.

guess we will have to wait and see what happens here regarding this warning.