The death toll from a typhoon that devastated the Philippines earlier this month will likely hit 1,500, making it the second deadliest since the country began keeping records, the civil defense chief said Saturday.

The Philippines has passed a landmark law that criminalizes “enforced disappearances,” a presidential spokeswoman said on Saturday, in a move hailed by human rights groups.

Philippine Catholic leaders vowed Tuesday to overturn a birth control bill after lawmakers passed landmark legislation to make sex education and contraceptives more widely available.

The Philippines' official human rights commission called Tuesday for criminal charges against eight soldiers and their two commanders for the killing of a respected botanist and his two aides.

Philippine legislators passed a landmark law Monday to provide government funding for contraceptives and sex education in schools despite strong opposition from the Catholic Church and its followers, some who threatened to ask the Supreme Court to block the legislation.

The death toll from a typhoon that devastated the southern Philippines earlier this month has topped 1,000 as hundreds more remain missing, the government said on Sunday.

Philippine police have killed a suspected Malaysian terrorist who allegedly was planning a bomb attack in one of the largest cities in the country's south, police said Saturday.

The Philippines declared on Saturday an 18-day unilateral Christmas truce with Maoist guerrillas, in part to let forces focus on relief efforts on a southern island devastated by a typhoon, an army spokesman said.

Philippine Muslim rebel leaders who are negotiating a peace deal with Manila ordered their fighters on Friday not to wear military uniforms or carry guns in public, a spokesman said.

Low-flying search planes spotted three Filipino fishermen drifting at sea and flashing mirrors to signal for help, as authorities stepped up the search for 261 others missing more than a week after a typhoon killed hundreds in the southern Philippines.