Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he may consider running for vice president next year when his term ends “if there is a space for me,” although opponents have described such a prospect as “a joke of the worst kind.”

Duterte’s televised remarks Monday night were the strongest sign that he is considering calls by ruling PDP-Laban party allies for him to run for the vice president post to continue his government programs.

MANILA, Jun 25 (NNN-PNA) – The World Bank today approved a 400-million-U.S. dollar loan, to support reforms that will assist the Philippine government in achieving a resilient financial sector, and help ensure a more inclusive recovery from the COVID-19.

The bank said, the Philippines First Financial Sector Reform Development Policy Financing loan, is the first of two programmes supporting three reform areas, including strengthening financial sector stability, integrity, and resilience.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine president has threatened to order the arrest of Filipinos who refuse COVID-19 vaccination and told them to leave the country if they would not cooperate with the efforts to contain the pandemic.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who is known for his public outbursts and brash rhetoric, said in televised remarks Monday night that he has become exasperated with people who refuse to get immunized then help spread the coronavirus.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will never cooperate with a possible International Criminal Court investigation into the thousands of killings under his anti-drugs crackdown, his spokesman said Tuesday, calling an international inquiry insulting to the country’s justice system.

MANILA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine security forces killed four suspected terrorists in a before-dawn shootout on Sunday in Sulu province in the southern Philippines.

Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, said the shootout broke out around 2 a.m. local time when a team of soldiers and police swooped down on the suspects' hideout in Jolo town.

"Sensing the presence of the operating troops, the (suspects) opened fire, thereby prompting the government forces to retaliate," Vinluan said in a statement.

(Reuters) --- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has stoked a feud with boxer Manny Pacquiao by criticising his "shallow" foreign policy knowledge, after the senator and eight-division champion said he found the leader's stand on the South China Sea was "lacking".

In a late night interview with SMNI news channel on Tuesday, Duterte said Pacquiao, a senator and close ally, should "study first" before weighing in.

MANILA, May 31 (NNN-PNA) – Philippine police said, two people were killed and seven others injured, when a small speeding truck hit a car on a highway in Quezon province, early today.

Police said, the accident occurred around 1:30 a.m. local time, in Gumaca town, approximately 200 km south-east of the Philippines’ capital, Manila, and that the car, after being hit by the truck, crashed into a concrete street post.

Police said two of the car passengers died on the way to hospital.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines has demanded that China withdraw its ships and fishing vessels from the vicinity of a Philippine-occupied island in the South China Sea, where the Chinese military has asserted its sovereignty and vowed to “unswervingly safeguard” the disputed territory.

The exchange of protests by the Asian neighbors over the island, internationally called Thitu, is the latest flareup in a long simmering territorial feud in the strategic waterway that has escalated in the last two months.

28 May 2021; MEMO: The Philippines has suspended the deployment of workers to Saudi Arabia after it received reports that their employers and recruiters were making them pay for COVID-19 testing, quarantine and insurance upon arrival in the kingdom, Reuters reports.

Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello said in a 27 May order that his department will issue an official statement on resumption of deployment "after this matter has been clarified accordingly".

(Reuters) --- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will "leave it to God" whether or not he will run for vice president in next year's elections, his spokesman said on Thursday, responding to speculation that he might try to stay in power longer.

Duterte cannot seek re-election in 2022 under a constitution that limits presidents to a single six-year term, but he can hold another elected post, including that of vice president.

It is not uncommon in the Philippines for former presidents to run for lower office.