PHILIPPINES: Foreign Tourists Drugged In Manila,Their Credit Cards Used To Make Transactions

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a travel alert for the Philippines on Friday after several reported cases of con artists drugging foreign tourists in Manila and using their credit cards to make transactions.

In the notice, the ministry urged Taiwanese people traveling to the Philippines to stay on high alert and to avoid strangers who come up to them to start a conversation.

The ministry said that Taiwan's representative office in the Philippines has recently received several reports of Taiwanese tourists being drugged by scammers, who stole credit cards from the victims while they were unconscious.

The victims all reported similar situations, in which a gang of three to four Filipinos approached them when they were alone and invited them to restaurants, drugging them into deep sleep to steal their credit cards or other valuable belongings, the ministry said.

The latest case reported to Taiwan's representative office in Manila involved a Taiwanese woman who was in the Philippines to receive vocational training, according to a source.

It occurred on June 24, when the woman was approached by three other women and one man at a shopping mall and was later drugged by the conmen and remained unconscious for 24 hours, the source said.

After returning to Taiwan, the victim found unauthorized charges on her credit card during the period when she was unconscious, the source said.

The ministry warned that such scams are more likely to occur at popular tourist destinations in Metro Manila, such as the Mall of Asia, Rizal Park, the Malate district and Burgos Street.

The ministry said the representative office has reported the cases to the Philippine police and asked them to take actions to ensure the safety of foreign travelers.



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PHILIPPINES: Army Fights On, Despite Start Of Ramadan

Philippine security forces dropped more bombs Saturday on a southern city where they have been battling Islamist militants for five days, vowing no let up despite the start of Ramadan.

President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across the southern third of the Philippines in response to the clashes, which have claimed at least 48 lives and he has said are part of a campaign by the Islamic State group to establish a local caliphate.

"We have identified where they are consolidating so we are doing surgical air strikes to destroy the local terrorist group," local military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera said.

Truckloads of extra marines were also seen driving into Marawi, one of the biggest Muslim-populated cities in the mainly Catholic Philippines with about 200,000 residents.

The fighting erupted on Tuesday when dozens of gunmen went on a rampage throughout Marawi in response to an attempt by security forces to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, a veteran Filipino militant regarded as the local leader of IS.

They planted black IS flags, took a priest and up to 14 other people hostage from a church, and set fire to buildings.

Thirteen soldiers, two policemen and 31 militants have died in the fighting, according to authorities.

Two civilians were also confirmed killed inside a hospital that the gunmen had occupied on Tuesday, and the military has said it investigating reports that nine people were murdered at a checkpoint the militants had set up.

Duterte has vowed to extinguish the threat of the militants, whom he has said belong to the local Maute terrorist group but are being backed by criminals in the area.

Nevertheless, Duterte also said on Friday that he was prepared to talk with the group's leaders.

His spokesman, Ernesto Abella, said this was partly an offer made in the spirit of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began in the Philippines on Saturday.

Together we pray for an end to terrorism that falsely claims to advance Islam and seeks to subjugate our land to the brutal IS, Abella said in a statement.

In this spirit of Muslim peace, the president has offered the hand of peaceful dialogue to terrorist groups, to avoid bloodshed in this time of prayer, fasting and mercy.

However there appear to be an extremely small chance of talks, unless they are to negotiate the release of the hostages.

Military spokesman Herrera said the security operations to rid Marawi of the gunmen would continue despite the start of Ramadan.

It is painful for the Maranao (the name for local Muslims) that it is Ramadan but our action now is to protect Marawi,Herrera said.

These are the impacts of the local terrorist group's actions.