Two Filipino sailors have died and 16 others are missing after their cargo ship sank in waters near Vietnam, the Philippine foreign department said Sunday.

The cargo vessel Bulk Jupiter went down on January 2 off the coast of Vung Tau City and so far, only one Filipino crewman has been rescued alive, the department said in a statement, without specifying why the ship sank.

A soldier was killed and three others wounded when Muslim rebels simultaneously attacked military detachments in two southern Philippine provinces on Saturday, a military spokeswoman said.

An hour-long gun battle broke out when separatist rebel group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters raided a camp in President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat province shortly after midnight, Captain Jo-ann Petinglay said in a statement.

Tropical storm Jiangmi exited the Philippines Thursday, leaving at least 54 dead and 13 missing from floods and landslides as officials admitted that more extensive warnings could have saved more lives.

The storm's death toll was nearly triple that of the last major storm -- Super Typhoon Hagupit, which hit the Philippines last month and wreaked less havoc than expected thanks to timely precautionary measures.

The death toll from flooding and landslides in the Philippines wrought by tropical storm Jangmi rose to 53 Wednesday, officials said, with some regions saying they were caught off guard by the deluge.

In Catbalogan town in Samar province 19 people died in a landslide that left homes and vehicles buried under rocks and mud, local Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan said, adding that the town had been surprised by the landslide.

At least 30 people were killed in landslides and flash floods as tropical storm Jangmi slowly crossed the southern and central Philippines, dumping heavy rain for a second day on Tuesday, officials said.

Rivers burst their banks and submerged villages in floods up to "neck-deep" while hillsides crashed onto homes and highways, officials said.

Convicts in the Philippines's main prison turned over an arsenal of firearms and improvised weapons including an Uzi machine-gun as part of a crackdown on privileged jail birds, the Justice Department said Monday.

Despite the haul, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima fired four jail officials and said she suspected prison gangs were still holding on to weapons and narcotics even after a deadline for the surrender of contraband items passed.

The Philippine government and communist rebels said Friday that formal negotiations to end a lengthy insurgency could restart shortly, though the rebels' armed wing announced it was beefing up its guerilla campaign.

Peace talks regarding one of the world's longest-running insurgencies, which have been on-and-off since the 1980s, may resume as early as the second half of January, Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison said in a video message on Facebook.

Thousands of residents of the typhoon-weary city of Tacloban in the mainly Catholic Philippines prepared Wednesday to mark their second Christmas in ruins following two giant storms.

A huge streetside Christmas lantern was the sole sign of the nation's most festive holiday in the city's Magallanes district, where shanties have replaced a community flattened by tsunami-like waves whipped up by Super Typhoon Haiyan 13 months ago.

Pope Francis will meet with leaders of various religions when he visits the Philippines next month, pushing a message of tolerance in order to combat global religious conflicts, a church official said Monday.

The pontiff will hold a 10 to 15-minute dialogue with the dean of the Philippines' largest Islamic studies center and a Taiwan-based Buddhist leader on January 18, according to Father Carlos Reyes, a member of the committee organizing the Pope's visit.

Philippine authorities have given privileged inmates in the country's main prison until Christmas Eve to turn over their hidden guns, drugs and other contraband or the notorious facility will face a major shakedown.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima issued the ultimatum after two surprise searches of the Bilibid prison this week uncovered a horde of prohibited items including firearms, drugs, stashes of U.S. dollars -- and even a jacuzzi and a stripper bar.