President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo approved the lifting today of a week-long period of martial law in a southern Philippine province where 57 people were massacred last month in the country’s worst political violence.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was taken to hospital today after reporting abdominal pain while attending a birthday party for her husband, officials said.

Rescuers battled rain, mud and floodwaters today to search for more than 100 people believed buried under tons of earth and debris and feared dead after landslides and huge waves devastated eastern Philippine villages, officials said.