| Philippine President, Gloria Arroyo, has announced an initiative to reform Muslim schools in the south of the country with the help of neighbor, Brunei, to deny Islamic militants a recruiting ground. Mrs Arroyo considers the threat of Muslim militants as her country's number-one security threat following a wave of deadly bombings in recent years in the Muslim-populated south of the mainly Roman Catholic nation. The president's security aides claim certain Islamic schools financed by interests abroad preach hate and religious intolerance and serve as fertile grounds for new recruitment for the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group. Mrs Arroyo, who is due in Brunei, will also meet Brunei's 10-member contribution to an international committee. The committee, led by Malaysia, is monitoring a ceasefire between the Philippine government and Muslim separatists in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao. |