Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos has been buried at a heroes' cemetery in a secrecy-shrouded ceremony.

After days of wading through mud and floodwaters, exhausted residents today scrambled for a seat on a helicopter or a ferry to escape coastal villages ravaged by back-to-back storms that killed at least 568 people and left as many missing.

Rescuers scrambled today to reach scores of people left stranded by a powerful typhoon that sliced through the Philippines on the heels of a rainstorm that killed more than 420 people with possibly hundreds more missing.

A FILIPINO held hostage in Iraq told his family in a videotaped message aired yesterday he would be home soon, but the militants holding him said he would be freed only after Manila withdrew its troops from Iraq.