Category Archives: Philippines

China accused of seizing rocket debris from Philippines navy in South China Sea dispute

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Coast guard cut towing cable the Phillipines navy was using, say military officials, on eve of visit to region by Kamala Harris

China’s coast guard forcibly seized the suspected debris of a Chinese rocket that the Philippine navy was towing to its island in the South China Sea, Philippines military officials have said, in the latest confrontation in the disputed sea.

The Chinese vessel twice blocked the Philippine naval boat before seizing the floating debris it was towing on Sunday off Philippine-occupied Thitu island, Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos said on Monday. He said no one was injured in the incident.

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Australian man jailed for 129 years in child sexual abuse case in Philippines

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It is the second conviction for Peter Gerard Scully who was already serving a life sentence for the rape and trafficking of girls

An Australian man has been sentenced to 129 years in a Philippine jail as part of a child sexual abuse case involving victims as young as 18 months, a prosecutor has said.

“I hope this sends a very strong message to all abusers, all human traffickers, that crime really does not pay,” Merlynn Barola-Uy, a regional prosecutor in the southern city of Cagayan de Oro, said on Wednesday.

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Philippine police allege prisons chief ordered murder of journalist

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Gerald Bantag behind killing of Percival Mabasa in Manila suburb last month, authorities claim

Police in the Philippines have accused the country’s prisons chief of ordering the killing of a prominent radio journalist whose death sparked international alarm.

Percival Mabasa, 63, who went by the name Percy Lapid on his programme, was shot dead in a Manila suburb on 3 October as he drove to his studio.

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Weather tracker: Storm Nalgae heads towards China after pelting Philippines

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Sixteenth tropical cyclone to affect the Philippines this season caused deadly floods and landslides

Tropical Storm Nalgae swept through the Philippines on Saturday with sustained winds of 60mph.

Heavy rain caused the most damage, with significant flooding and landslides. Dozens of people have died and 170,000 sought shelter in evacuation centres.

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Storm Nalgae: floods and landslides in Philippines kill at least 45

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Officials revise death toll after fast-moving waters sweep away entire families and damage almost 500 houses

The Philippines has significantly revised down the death toll from a tropical storm ravaging the country, saying only 45 people have been killed.

The civil defence office had earlier reported 72 dead, 14 missing and 33 injured, but civil defence officials acknowledged rescue teams sent to the country’s flood-hit south on Friday had erred in their reporting, leading to some deaths being counted twice.

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‘Strange and unusual’ Philippines lottery win draws call for inquiry

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Prize worth £3.55m to be split between 433 winners who all chose multiples of nine for their numbers

A “strange and unusual” lottery draw in the Philippines that led to 433 people winning with a combination of numbers that were all multiples of nine has prompted suspicion and calls for an investigation.

A prize of 236m pesos (£3.55m) will be split between the winners, with each receiving about 545,000 pesos, subject to taxes, for picking the numbers 09, 45, 36, 27, 18 and 54 during the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) grand lotto draw on Saturday.

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Outrage after Philippine journalist Percival Mabasa shot dead in Manila

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Media groups and activists describe assassination of radio star, known on air as Percy Lapid, as a blow to press freedom

A prominent Philippine journalist has been shot dead while driving in the country’s capital, Manila, according to police, prompting condemnation from media groups and activists, who described his assassination as a blow to press freedom.

Radio journalist Percival Mabasa, 63, was killed by two assailants at the gate of a residential compound in the Las Pinas area of Manila on Monday night, police said. He was shot twice in the head.

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Weather tracker: Typhoon Noru wreaks havoc across south-east Asia

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As Hurricane Ian hits the Americas, Noru has been ripping through the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand

Hurricane Ian has been in the headlines but it is not the only storm that has been causing havoc in the past week.

On Tuesday, Typhoon Noru struck south of the city of Da Nang in Vietnam, heading westwards to Thailand. Initially a tropical storm, Noru originated in the Philippine Sea on 23 September, propagating westwards while gathering moisture and strengthening.

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More than 1,700 environmental activists murdered in the past decade – report

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Figures likely to be an underestimate, says Global Witness, as land defenders are killed by hitmen, crime groups and governments

More than 1,700 murders of environmental activists were recorded over the past decade, an average of a killing nearly every two days, according to a new report.

Killed by hitmen, organised crime groups and their own governments, at least 1,733 land and environmental defenders were murdered between 2012 and 2021, figures from Global Witness show, with Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, Mexico and Honduras the deadliest countries.

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Super Typhoon Noru hits Philippines after thousands flee homes

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Sustained wind speeds of 125mph recorded in what is expected to be strongest storm to hit country this year

Super Typhoon Noru has slammed into the Philippines, battering the heavily populated main island of Luzon with strong winds and heavy rain that have forced thousands of people to flee their homes.

The storm was packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 125mph (195km/h) after an unprecedented “explosive intensification”, the state weather forecaster said.

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Philippines struck by powerful 7 magnitude earthquake, killing at least two

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Dozens injured after tremor hit mountainous area of Abra province, causing extensive damage to some homes and buildings

A strong earthquake left at least two people dead and injured dozens in the northern Philippines, where the temblor set off small landslides and damaged buildings and churches and prompted terrified crowds and hospital patients in the capital to rush outdoors.

The 7-magnitude quake centred in the province of Abra in a mountainous area, said Renato Solidum, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

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Philippines mayor orders government workers to smile – or else

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Head of Mulanay municipality in Quezon threatens disciplinary action for failing to follow ‘smile policy’

A mayor in the Philippines has ordered all local government workers and officials to smile while serving the public – and threatened disciplinary action against those who fail to comply.

Aristotle “Aris” L Aguirre, the mayor of Mulanay municipality in Quezon, has sought to tackle an apparent problem of low spirits among staff by signing an executive order adopting a “smile policy”.

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Maria Ressa: Amal Clooney condemns court after Nobel laureate’s conviction upheld

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Human rights lawyer’s team calls on new Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos Jr to ‘stop the rot’ and allow a free press

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has condemned a decision by a court in the Philippines to uphold the conviction of Nobel prize-winner Maria Ressa in a cyber libel case and her legal team has said the world is watching to see if newly elected president Ferdinand Marcos Jr will “stop the rot” or continue attacks on journalists.

Maria Ressa, co-founder of the website Rappler, lost her appeal last week against a conviction for cyber libel – just one of an onslaught of legal cases and investigations the journalist is battling.

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Ferdinand Marcos Jr praises dictator father during swearing in as Philippines president

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Son says family has legacy of achievement as he completes clan’s return to power 36 years after father’s ousting

Ferdinand Marcos Jr has promised a government that will deliver for all Filipinos during his inauguration speech, even as he paid tribute to the legacy of his dictator father, whose rule was marked by widespread corruption and rights abuses.

Marcos Jr, who began his term as president of the Philippines on Thursday, said he would emulate his father. “I once knew a man who saw what little had been achieved since independence in a land of people with the greatest potential for achievement. And yet they were poor. But he got it done. Sometimes with the needed support, sometimes without. So will it be with his son. You will get no excuses from me,” he said.

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Philippines orders news site Rappler to close as Nobel prize-winner Maria Ressa vows to fight on

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The ‘kill’ order, which seeks to revoke the company’s certificates of incorporation, was made in the final days of Rodrigo Duterte’s rule

The Philippine government is affirming a previous order to shut down the news website Rappler, according to its co-founder, the Nobel peace prize winner Maria Ressa.

Rappler, which has been praised for exposing abuses of power and growing authoritarianism under the outgoing Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has faced a series of legal charges over recent years.

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‘The Punisher’: Rodrigo Duterte’s violent reign as Philippines president to end

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Analysis: Duterte’s popularity remains undented among people in poorer areas despite attacks on human rights, rule of law and media

Six years ago, the tough-talking mayor of Davao City, known as “the Punisher” because of his merciless approach to crime, was on the brink of taking national power in the Philippines. He promised to move power away from Manila elites, tackle poverty, corruption, and drugs. “When I become president,” Rodrigo Duterte told one rally, “I will order the police to find those people [involved in drugs] and kill them. The funeral parlours will be packed.”

The latter prediction was, at least, correct. When Duterte steps down on 30 June, having reached the end of his term limit, he will leave behind a country in which human rights, the media and rule of law have been weakened, say analysts.

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Shipwreck of US destroyer ‘Sammy B’ becomes deepest ever discovered

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Second world war ship found broken in two at depth of 22,916 feet in Philippines at ‘hallowed war grave’

A US navy destroyer that engaged a superior Japanese fleet in the largest sea battle of the second world war in the Philippines has become the deepest shipwreck to be discovered, according to explorers.

The USS Samuel B Roberts, popularly known as the “Sammy B”, was identified on Wednesday broken into two pieces on a slope at a depth of 22,916 feet (6,985m), or about four miles.

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New era for Philippines as Ferdinand Marcos Jr proclaimed president

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Dictator’s son will take office on 30 June, marking the dynasty’s return to the seat of power

Ferdinand Marcos Jr was flanked by his family, including matriarch Imelda Marcos, as he stood at the rostrum in the Philippines Congress to be proclaimed president-elect, marking the dynasty’s return to the seat of power.

Marcos Jr won almost 59% of votes in an election earlier this month, more than double that of his closest rival. His landslide victory followed a highly divisive campaign that was dominated by disinformation that sought to glorify the regime of his dictator father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr, who plundered as much as $10bn while in office, and presided over rife human rights abuses.

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‘I’m disgusted’: readers in the Philippines on the 2022 election result

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Seven Filipinos share their views on the victory of Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr and the future they see for the country

After a landslide election victory, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr is to become the next president of the Philippines. The son and namesake of the late dictator received more than 30m votes, beating his closest rival, the current vice-president, Leni Robredo.

Here, seven people in the Philippines share their views on the result and how they feel about the future of the country.

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‘Lost’ Picasso spotted in Imelda Marcos’s home after son’s election win

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Artwork’s appearance fuels fears family will use return to power to further stifle efforts to recover ill-gotten wealth

The glimpse of a possible Picasso in the home of Imelda Marcos seen during a visit by her son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, after his election win has set off a flurry of speculation in the Philippines, where the family that once plundered billions is set to return to power.

Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of the late dictator, won a landslide victory in Monday’s presidential election, an outcome that has appalled those who survived his father’s regime.

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