The United States has warned Americans against travel to the southern Philippines just days after Australia and Canada issued similar advice.

A "security message" from the U.S. embassy in Manila earlier this week said diplomatic staff had been restricted from traveling to three cities on the southern island of Mindanao.

The Philippines said Friday it would keep its 340 peacekeepers in the Golan Heights provided it gets requested additional heavier weapons and protection.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino would reject a proposal to pull the Filipinos out if the United Nations met his requests to boost security, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said in a statement.

The Philippines' poorly paid police have been warned they will be sacked if they sell their new semi-automatic pistols, a spokesman for the corruption-plagued force said Thursday.

The Glock pistols currently being distributed to tens of thousands of officers cost about twice as much as an entry-level salary in the force, and there are fears that the guns could end up on the black market.

Australia and Canada warned Wednesday about fresh threats of terrorism and kidnapping in the southern Philippines, and Canberra barred its diplomats from traveling to three cities in the area.

Both urged their citizens not to travel to large parts of the Mindanao region, with the Australian government specifically barring its diplomats from the cities of Davao, Cotabato and Zamboanga.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday urged progress on a code of conduct to govern the hotly disputed South China Sea, after ally the Philippines warned of a Chinese military build-up in the strategically vital waters.

"We very much hope to see progress on a substantive code of conduct to help ensure stability in this vital region," Kerry told foreign ministers of Southeast Asian nations at a meeting in Brunei.

President Benigno Aquino threatened Thursday to withdraw Philippine troops from the U.N. peacekeeping force on the Golan Heights unless they receive anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, and are protected against chemical arms.

Aquino said the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), now made up of just over 500 Filipino and Indian troops, needed revised rules of engagement as Syria's civil war heats up.

The Philippines financial capital banned disposable plastic shopping bags and styrofoam food containers on Thursday, as part of escalating efforts across the nation's capital to curb rubbish that exacerbates deadly flooding.

After a widespread publicity campaign leading up to the ban, Makati City environment protection officers began handing out fines of 5,000 pesos ($115) to shops and supermarkets caught distributing the items.

The Philippines Wednesday said it would keep its peacekeepers in the Golan Heights until at least August, and may stay longer if the United Nations increased security there.

The announcement by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario followed repeated government warnings in recent weeks that it was considering swiftly pulling out its 341 soldiers from the volatile area between Syria and Israel.

A sinewy man covered in thick soot stands in a grey cloud of smoke, watching over a slow-burning pile of wood that sustains his life but may also eventually kill him.

Nearby, emaciated children with their bones visible through their skin bet over a game of dice using charcoal instead of money.

Communist insurgents wearing military uniforms abducted five soldiers in the southern Philippines, in the latest of a series of violent acts following the collapse of peace talks, authorities said Tuesday.

The New People's Army guerrillas set up a roadblock on the outskirts of Davao City on Monday and seized the five soldiers as they were passing through on motorcycles, said military spokesman Colonel Ramon Zagala.