Eight fishermen found beheaded in boat in gruesome attack off the Philippines

058420-eight-fishermen-found-beheaded-at-sea
EIGHT fishermen including two boys have been shot and beheaded in a gruesome attack at sea off the troubled southern Philippines.

The victims were among a group of fishermen who went missing after being attacked in the Moro Gulf off Mindanao island on December 26, said regional police spokesman Ariel Huesca.

Five headless corpses were first found aboard a boat drifting at sea on Friday by police who had gone in search of the missing fishermen, said Senior Inspector Joel Lozano, police chief of the district where the boat was taken.

“When we further inspected the boat (on Saturday morning), we discovered more headless bodies beneath the floorboard…. In all, it contained eight bodies,” Inspector Lozano told reporters.

The corpses, including those of two boys aged about 12 and 14, were all decomposing, suggesting they were killed a few days earlier, he said.

Read more at News.Com.Au

Philippines law gives compensation to Marcos victims

The Philippine president has signed a law to give compensation to victims of the country’s former leader, Ferdinand Marcos.

The government has set aside at least 10bn pesos ($224m: £148m) to compensate thousands of people who suffered rights abuses in the Marcos era.

The money was recovered from Swiss bank accounts secretly maintained by Marcos during his 20 years in power.

President Benigno Aquino said the move would “right the wrongs of the past”.

“We may not bring back the time stolen from martial law victims, but we can assure them of the state’s recognition of their sufferings that will help bring them closer to the healing of their wounds,” he said at a ceremony in Manila.

Read more at BBC News