Manila- The Philippines said Thursday it started extracting oil from its offshore Galoc oil field, a welcome development in the country struggling with high fuel prices.

Presidential Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita described the output in the Galoc oil field off Palawan province, 600 kilometres south-west of Manila, as "light medium crude oil with a potential high yield of light ends such as gasoline."

"The fresh extracts were put onboard a Philippine vessel en route to our local refineries," he said.

Manila - The Philippine Senate has ratified a controversial trade deal with Japan which was opposed by activists for allegedly compromising the country's sovereignty and patrimony, senate records showed Thursday.

The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement was ratified late Wednesday by a vote of 16 to 4, with no abstention.

Senator Manuel Roxas, who voted for the ratification of the deal, said it would be damaging to the country if the senate did not ratify the agreement.

Manila  - Four Muslim secessionist rebels were killed Wednesday in a clash with government troops in the southern Philippines, a military report said.

London, Oct. 8 : The Philippines Government and the Filipino community have strongly condemned a comedy skit appearing on BBC where a man urges his neighbour to "mount" a Filipina maid.

An online petition described the skit appearing on the BBC show Harry and Paul as "disgraceful", "distasteful" and "tantamount to racism".

The petition attracted hundreds of signatures yesterday and calls were growing last night for the BBC to apologize, according to The Scotsman.

Manila - The Philippines ratified on Tuesday the charter of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) which will give the 10-country grouping a legal framework, as well as set out the principles and rules for its members.

Sixteen senators voted for the ratification of the charter, while one objected.

Pro-administration Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago was the ardent proponent in the ratification of the charter in the opposition-led senate.

Santiago said that the ASEAN charter will hasten the economic integration of the organization as well as balance the growing influence of China and India in the region.

The charter also commits its member-countries to promote human rights and democracy.

Manila - Philippine shares dropped 3.01 per cent on Tuesday as panic engulfed stock markets around the world over the deepening global financial crisis.

The Philippine Stock Exchange's 30-share composite index shed 75.34 points to close at 2,424.19 from Monday's finish of 2,499.53 points.

A total of 1.38 billion shares valued at 2.30 billion pesos (48.26 million dollars) were traded.

Losers swamped gainers, 108 to 10, with 28 issues unchanged.