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Regional trend sees criminal law repeatedly weaponised to target journalists and muzzle free and fair reporting
Standing on the court steps earlier this month after spending a night in detention, Philippine journalist Maria Ressa spoke defiantly to the dozens of gathered cameras. This was, she pointed out, the sixth time she had posted bail in the space of 18 months. “I will pay more bail than convicted criminals,” said Ressa. “I will pay more bail than Imelda Marcos.”
Ressa, the editor and founder of Rappler, a Philippine online news outlet which has been highly critical of president Rodrigo Duterte, has borne the brunt of a targeted crackdown on opposition media in the Philippines, a country which just two years ago was considered something of a beacon of free press in south-east Asia.
Philippines president Duterte government accused of shameless persecution
The editor of an online newspaper in the Philippines has been arrested on charges of cyber-libel as part of what the country’s journalists’ union said was a campaign of intimidation against voices critical of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Speaking from the headquarters of news website Rappler on Wednesday before she was taken away by four plainclothes officers, Maria Ressa said she was not intimidated. “These legal acrobatics show how far the government will go to silence journalists, including the pettiness of forcing me to spend the night in jail,” she added.
As the first leader of the Catholic church to visit the Arabian peninsula, Francis knows his contact with Muslims will be as important as the mass he hosts for the Christian minority
Pope Francis’s visit to the United Arab Emirates this week will be greeted enthusiastically. Some 120,000 people are expected to turn out for his mass in a sports stadium in Abu Dhabi – as many as turned out in Dublin when he travelled to historically Catholic Ireland last year. The first visit by a pontiff to the Arabian peninsula, the birthplace of Islam, highlights the complications of the religious situation in the Middle East, and more widely the issues of Christian-Muslim relations.
There may be as many as 2 million Christians in the Middle East today. Despite nearly 16 years of war and sometimes brutal persecution in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq, many remain in the lands that were the cradle of Christianity. In part this is because it is still made as hard as possible for them to leave the region. The Christians of Iraq have largely been driven from their homes by persecution, as have some of the Christians of Syria, where a number have taken the side of the Assad dictatorship. But they have ended up in refugee camps rather than reaching notionally Christian Europe.
South-east Asia has three countries in the top five, while Japan comes in last
South-east Asia is one of the most internet-addicted regions on the planet, with the Philippines topping the global list with an average 10 hours and 2 minutes of screen time every day.
The country was joined in the top five by Thailand and Indonesia, according to findings in a new report on online habits released by HootSuite and We Are Social.
Part of the Philippine urban landscape for decades, jeepneys, small buses originally made from military vehicles left by the Americans after the second world war, are being phased out. Pollution and safety concerns mean jeepneys 15 years or older will be taken off the streets by 2020. Also threatened are the livelihoods of artists who customise them
Two explosions at a Roman Catholic cathedral killed 20 people and injured dozens more on the southern island of Jolo in the Philippines. The attack came nearly a week after minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation endorsed a new autonomous region in the south. Voters in Sulu province, where Jolo is located, rejected it
First blast in or near church on island of Jolo during Sunday mass is followed by second outside compound
Twenty people were killed and 81 injured when two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active security officials have said.
The country’s national police chief said the first bomb went off in or near Jolo cathedral during a mass on Sunday, followed by a second blast outside the compound as government forces were responding to the attack. Oscar Albayalde said the dead included troops and civilians.
Result raises hopes of an end to decades of violence including attacks by Isis-inspired groups
People in the Muslim-majority southern Philippines have voted by a landslide to create a new autonomous region covering five provinces and three cities, a result the government hopes will bring peace to a war-torn part of the country and address issues that lure recruits to Isis-inspired groups.
On Friday, the election commission declared the Bangsamoro Organic Law plebiscite “ratified”, four days after the vote was held. Almost 1.6 million voted yes, while 250,000 voted no.
Vote seeks to solve half a century of unrest and counter a new wave of extremist Islamic State-linked groups
Muslims in the southern Philippines are voting in a referendum on a new autonomous region that seeks to end nearly half a century of unrest, in what their leaders are touting as the best alternative to a new wave of Islamic State group-inspired militants.
The vote caps a tumultuous peace effort by the government in Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main rebel group, to seal a deal that was signed in 2014 but languished in the Philippine congress until it was finally approved last year.
President Maithripala Sirisena praises Philippines over policy that has led to thousands of extrajudicial killings
Sri Lanka’s president has praised his Philippines counterpart Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, which has taken thousands of lives, calling it an “example to the world”.
In a speech during a visit to the Philippines this week, Maithripala Sirisena said he intended to replicate Duterte’s ruthless approach to tackling illegal drug use.
With sex outside marriage punishable by jail, migrant workers who become pregnant are often forced to keep their babies locked away
A sweltering, windowless room in an old district of Dubai, no more than 5 metres by 3 metres in size, is home to nine people from the Philippines. Eight are adults, working long hours in low-paid jobs so they can send money home to their families. The ninth is a six-year-old boy.
His name is Jerry and he shares a tiny bed with his mother, Neng. Jerry loves dancing, Peppa Pig and doughnuts. This small dark room is the only home he has known, as he’s spent his life in hiding as a stateless child. Growing up without a birth certificate or any other identification means he has no access to education and has never visited a doctor. Officially, this little boy does not exist.
A LUMAD leader in Northern Mindanao has cried foul over the proliferation of posters and tarpaulins hanged in public places and materials spread on the internet tagging him as supporter of terrorists and recruiter of the New Peoples Army . Datu Jomorito Goaynon, chairman of Kalumbay regional lumad organization, said he has been seeing printed materials posted and hanged near the Central Mindanao University , bus terminals and other communities in Bukidnon which are meant to discredit his image as a lumad leader.
One of the Philippines' closest allies, South Korea, will help the country modernize its defense capability, particularly the acquisition of new helicopters and submarines. This was confirmed by South Korean Ambassador to the Philippines Han Dong-Man in an exclusive interview over the weekend with the Philippine News Agency .
The United States Navy and Philippine Navy kicked off the week-long Maritime Training Activity Sama Sama at Naval Station Ernesto Ogbinar in San Fernando City, La Union on July 9, the US Navy said. In the at-sea phase to be held in West Philippine Sea, US Navy expeditionary fast transport USNS Millinocket , diving and salvage ship USNS Salvor and a P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft will operate with Philippine Navy frigate BRP Ramon Alcaraz and landing dock ship BRP Tarlac .
Navy Seaman Semajia Marshal heaves a mooring line aboard the USS Antietam in Manila, Philippines, June 26, 2018, while the guided missile cruiser is on patrol supporting security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announces the disbandment of police operations against illegal drugs at the Malacanang palace in Manila, Philippines early January 30, 2017. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has told a U.N human rights expert who said the country's judicial independence was under threat to 'go to hell', warning against interference in domestic affairs.
FILE PHOTO: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte points to photographers during an awarding ceremony for outstanding government workers, at the Malacanang Palace in Manila, Philippines December 19, 2016. REUTERS/Ezra Acayan/File Photo MANILA: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has told a UN human rights expert who said the country's judicial independence was under threat to 'go to hell', warning against interference in domestic affairs.
MANILA, Philippines: The unprecedented expulsion of the Philippine chief justice after the president lambasted her in public is an attack on judicial independence that could imperil the country's democracy, a U.N. expert warned. U.N. Rapporteur Diego Garcia-Sayan, who looks into threats to the independence of judges and lawyers worldwide, said he has sent questions to the Philippine government about the circumstances leading to the May 11 ouster of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno from the high court and expects a response within 60 days.
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