Philippines

MANILA, Nov 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police in the Philippines said the death toll from Typhoon Vamco has risen to 26, with dozens still missing or injured after the storm deluged Manila and its surrounding provinces, triggering some of the capital’s worst floods in years.

Fourteen people remain missing after Vamco, the 21st typhoon to hit the country this year, swept across Luzon, the Philippines’ main island.

Tens of thousands of homes were submerged by floods, as key highways turned into rivers.

MANILA, Nov 12 (NNN-PNA) – Philippine rescuers evacuated people stranded on rooftops of their submerged homes today, as Typhoon Vamco caused major flooding in the capital, Manila, and several provinces in the main island of Luzon.

Typhoon Vamco, the third powerful cyclone to batter the Philippines in 11 days, made landfall last night, unleashed fierce winds and intense rains that triggered landslide, rockslide and flash floods, in regions ravaged by Super Typhoon Goni early this month.

MANILA, Nov 3 (NNN-PNA) – Seven suspected militants of the Abu Sayyaf Group were killed in a clash with government troops, near a remote island in the southern Philippine Sulu province, before dawn today, the military said.

Corleto Vinluan, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, said, the fighting broke out before 2:00 a.m. local time, when patrolling troops intercepted a band of terrorists aboard a speed boat, near the Sulare Island in Parang town, Sulu.

MANILA, Oct 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Philippine officials on Saturday ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents in the southern part of the main Luzon island as a category 5 storm that is the world’s strongest this year approaches the Southeast Asian nation.

Typhoon Goni, with 215 kmh sustained winds and gusts of up to 265 kmh, will make landfall on Sunday as the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since Haiyan that killed more than 6,300 people in 2014.

MANILA, Oct 30 (NNN-XINHUA) — The death toll from Typhoon Molave has risen to 22, a government disaster agency said on Friday, while the Philippines’ weather bureau announced another storm is on the way.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said in an updated report that four were still missing and 39 injured after the typhoon pounded the Philippines from Sunday to Tuesday, reported Xinhua news agency.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A fast-moving typhoon forced thousands of villagers to flee to safety in provinces south of the Philippine capital Monday, flooding rural villages and ripping off roofs, officials said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from Typhoon Molave, but authorities reported at least one person was missing and seven others were rescued after their yacht sank off Batangas province south of Manila.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine president has said he has no problem with being held responsible for the many killings under his anti-drugs crackdown, adding that he was ready to face charges that could land him in jail, though not charges of crimes against humanity.

MANILA (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Philippines and China reaffirmed their countries’ strong relations on Saturday, Manila’s foreign ministry said, amid bilateral tensions over the South China Sea.

China, which has for years been locked in maritime disputes with other coastal states in the South China Sea, has in recent months held exercises in disputed parts of the strategic waterway, at a time when other claimants are battling coronavirus outbreaks.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that like his fierce critics, he has also suspected that extrajudicial killings may have happened under his drug crackdown that has killed thousands of people.

He said in televised remarks Monday night he had once inquired into the brutal deaths and was told some drug dealers may have been killed due to rivalry among syndicates or for stealing drug money.

ZAMBOANGA, Oct 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Philippine troops rescued a man who was held captive by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants after he managed to escape during a gunbattle, the military said.

Regional military commander Lt Gen Corleto Vinluan Jr said troops rescued Rex Triplitt on Wednesday after his abductors fled during the clash in the hinterlands of Sirawai town in southern Zamboanga del Norte province.

Triplitt was taken to a clinic in Sirawai for a checkup, he said.