Philippines

MANILA, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- China delivered an additional batch of Sinovac CoronaVac vaccines to the Philippines on Sunday to support the Southeast Asian country's COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

China has been delivering CoronaVac to the Philippines since Feb. 28. It was the first to provide coronavirus vaccines to the Philippines, allowing the country to kick off its vaccination drive on March 1.

MANILA, Sept 22 (NNN-PNA) – Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, today condemned the rich countries’ “selfish” plan, to hoard COVID-19 vaccines, while poor and developing nations are experiencing vaccine drought.

“There is a man-made drought of vaccines ravaging poor countries,” Duterte said, in a pre-recorded virtual address at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“Rich countries hoard life-saving vaccines, while poor nations wait for trickles,” he added.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The popular mayor of the Philippine capital said Wednesday he will run for president in next year’s elections, the latest aspirant in what is expected to be a crowded race to succeed the controversial Rodrigo Duterte.

MANILA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Boxing star Manny Pacquiao said on Sunday he will run for president of the Philippines next year, after railing against corruption in government and what he calls President Rodrigo Duterte's cozy relationship with China.

Pacquiao accepted the nomination of his political allies during the national assembly of the faction he leads in the ruling PDP-Laban Party, days after a rival faction nominated Duterte's long-time aide, Senator Christopher "Bong" Go, as its presidential candidate.

MANILA, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Families of people killed in the Philippines' war on drugs are hopeful that a formal investigation into possible crimes against humanity approved by judges from the International Criminal Court earlier this week will result in justice for the victims.

Rights groups say Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte incited deadly violence and accuse police of murdering unarmed suspects on a massive scale as part of the anti-narcotics campaign launched in 2016.

MANILA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The United Nations children's agency UNICEF has urged education authorities to reopen schools as soon as possible in countries where millions of students are still not allowed to return to classrooms 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schools in around 17 countries remain fully closed, while those in 39 countries remain partially closed, according to a report released by UNICEF on Thursday.

MANILA, Sept 12 (NNN-PNA) – The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH), reported 21,411 new COVID-19 infections today, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 2,227,367.

The DOH also reported 168 more coronavirus-related deaths, raising the death toll in the country to 35,145.

The Philippines, which has around 110 million population, tested over 18 million people since the COVID-19 outbreak in Jan, 2020. Yesterday, the DOH reported the country’s highest ever daily tally, with 26,303 cases.

MANILA, Sept 6 (NNN-Xinhua) — The Philippines is bracing for tropical storm Conson after the state weather service warned Monday that it could bring strong winds and heavy rains in the central Philippines and parts of the southern tip of the Bicol peninsula in the next 24 hours.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said that at 4 p.m. local time, the storm was spotted 95 km east of Guiuan town in the Eastern Samar province.

MANILA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 22,415 new COVID-19 infections on Monday, the highest ever single-day spike, raising the number of confirmed cases in the country to 2,103,331.

The DOH also reported 103 coronavirus-related deaths, raising the country's death toll to 34,337. Eight laboratories failed to submit data, it said.

The Philippines has recorded more than 20,000 daily cases for the fourth straight day.

MANILA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine army will deploy an additional 4,500 troops next year in the islands of Sulu in the southwest to fight terrorists, a Philippine lawmaker said on Sunday.

Johnny Pimentel, chairperson of the strategic intelligence committee in the House of Representatives, said the Department of National Defense will be spending 929 million pesos (18.62 million U.S. dollars) next year in deploying "a whole new Philippine army division to the Sulu archipelago."