Asia Pacific Oct 29, 2020
Philippines paves way to ending oil exploration row with China
Duterte lifted a six-year ban on oil exploration in the South China Sea earlier this month.
Asia Pacific / Politics Oct 5, 2020
Philippines' Duterte scores record high rating — despite virus crisis
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's approval rating has hit a record high, an opinion poll showed on Monday, despite a stubborn coronavirus crisis that has ravaged the economy and caused millions of job losses. The Pulse Asia survey, conducted last month with in-person interviews with 1,200 ...
Asia Pacific / Politics | FOCUS Sep 23, 2020
Philippines' Duterte gets tough on China in shift back toward U.S.
by Philip J. Heijmans and Andreo Calonzo
In recent months, his government has started to shift back toward Washington as Beijing has increased assertiveness in the South China Sea
Asia Pacific / Politics Sep 12, 2020
Philippines' Duterte tells China defense chief to follow the law in South China Sea dispute
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe that South China Sea disputes must be resolved using international law, including a treaty used as the basis for a 2016 ruling that refuted China’s claims in the area. Duterte met with the Chinese official ...
Asia Pacific Aug 7, 2020
Philippines now has worst COVID-19 outbreak in Southeast Asia
Despite imposing the longest, strictest lockdown in Southeast Asia, coronavirus cases in the Philippines have now surged to almost 120,000, eclipsing Indonesia to become the region’s biggest outbreak. The country re-imposed this week a second lockdown on Manila and nearby areas to curb infection spread, ...
Asia Pacific Aug 1, 2020
Dozens of doctors' groups on Saturday warned that the Philippines was losing the coronavirus fight, urging President Rodrigo Duterte to tighten a recently eased lockdown as cases surged and hospitals turned away patients. Eighty medical associations representing tens of thousands of doctors signed the open ...
Asia Pacific Jul 6, 2020
Duterte's anti-terrorism law challenged in Philippines' top court
Critics of a new anti-terrorism law in the Philippines called on the country's highest court Monday to suspend the legislation, arguing it threatens human rights and freedom of speech. The law approved by President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday gives the security forces sweeping powers to ...
Asia Pacific / Politics / Crime & Legal Jul 3, 2020
Philippines' Duterte signs anti-terrorism bill into law amid criticism from rights groups
The president can now appoint a council that can order warrantless arrests and detain people for weeks without charge.
Asia Pacific / Crime & Legal Jun 29, 2020
Scores of children killed in Philippines' war on drugs, report says
Minors have been directly targeted, punished as proxies, or victims of mistaken identity, the report said.
Asia Pacific Jun 4, 2020
Rodrigo Duterte paying Filipinos to move from Manila to country
by Siegfrid Alegado and Andreo Calonzo
The coronavirus pandemic is giving Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte a reason to reduce overcrowding in Manila, which in recent decades has swelled into one of the most heavily populated areas on Earth. Duterte is offering cash and goods to induce city-dwellers to move out of ...
Asia Pacific / Crime & Legal Jun 4, 2020
'Near impunity' for drug war killings in Philippines, U.N. report says
Tens of thousands of people in the Philippines may have been killed in the war on drugs since mid-2016, amid "near impunity" for police and incitement to violence by top officials, the United Nations said on Thursday. The drugs crackdown, launched by President Rodrigo Duterte ...
Asia Pacific May 8, 2020
U.S. 'concerned' over shutdown of top Philippine broadcaster
The United States on Thursday voiced concern over the Philippine government-ordered shutdown of the country's top broadcaster ABS-CBN, which has been targeted by President Rodrigo Duterte. "We are concerned by the situation regarding ABS-CBN," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. "An independent media plays a critical ...