When thousands of Muslims become refugees, then you can’t get the media to shut up about it for weeks. Thousands of Muslim migrants invading Burma became “refugees” and the media has spent the better part of a year ranting about how evil the Buddhists are.

But when Muslim terrorists attack a Christian city creating tens of thousands of refugees, you couldn’t pay the media to cover the story, whether it’s in Syria, Egypt or closer to home in the Philippines.

Philippine troops have started to battle their way into coastal villages in the south where Muslim rebels have held scores of residents hostage in a six-day standoff, sparking fierce clashes that have killed 56 people and displaced more than 60,000, officials said Saturday.

President Benigno Aquino III said more firefights were expected but assured more than 62,000 displaced villagers being sheltered at a sports complex in Zamboanga city that the rebels’ capability to sow trouble has been degraded and the government was working to end the crisis soon.