Philippines

MANILA, May 29 (NNN-PNA) – Typhoon Mawar slightly weakened, as it moved towards the Philippines, but heavy rain will still threaten some parts of the country in the next three days, the state weather bureau warned.

In its latest advisory, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said, Mawar will dump rain in the provinces on the northern Luzon Island and the central Philippine regions.

MANILA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Thursday pushed for resumption of negotiations for a Philippine-European Union (EU) free trade agreement (FTA), saying his country is ready to comply with "vital international obligations" as determined by the European bloc.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A massive fire tore through Manila’s historic post office building overnight, slightly injuring seven people and razing the nearly 100-year-old landmark in the Philippine capital, police and postal officials said Monday.

The fire started before midnight in the basement of the neoclassical, five-story building and was brought under control Monday morning more than seven hours after it began, firefighters said.

MANILA, May 21 (NNN-PNA) – Philippine troops killed five suspected rebels, in a series of clashes, in the central Philippines yesterday, a military spokesperson said.

Lieutenant Colonel Israel Galorio of the Visayas Command said, the first fighting broke out around 5.00 a.m. local time yesterday, followed by two more clashes in Negros Occidental province, resulting in the death of five New People’s Army (NPA) members.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Australia will provide surveillance drones and other high-tech gear to the Philippine coast guard and is considering whether to take part in joint patrols in the disputed South China Sea, Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Thursday.

Wong, who held talks in Manila with her counterpart, Enrique Manalo, also thanked the Philippine government for its help in the discovery of a ship that sank during World War II in the northern Philippines, killing nearly a thousand Australians “in a very sad chapter in our history.”

MANILA, May 4 (Reuters) - The United States has laid out in clear terms the extent of its defence treaty commitments to the Philippines, issuing new guidelines that refer specifically to attacks in the South China Sea, including on its coast guard.

The six-page "bilateral defence guidelines" agreed in Washington on Wednesday follow a renewed push under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to update the Mutual Defense Treaty with the former colonial ruler, at a time of increased tension and maritime confrontation with China.

MANILA, May 1 (Reuters) - Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said China has agreed to discuss fishing rights in the South China Sea, as he pushed for a "direct communication line" with Beijing on maritime differences.

China has agreed to "sit down" and talk about Filipinos' fishing rights in the South China Sea, Marcos said, adding he has asked the Philippine Coast Guard and the Department of Foreign Affairs "to put together...a map of these fishing grounds" that will be presented to Beijing.

30 Apr 2023; AA: A search operation is underway to find the remaining two crew members of a Sierra Leone-registered ship after it capsized off the southeastern Bataan Province of the Philippines late Friday, the Chinese Embassy in Manila said on Sunday.

At least three crewmen, two Chinese and a Filipino, were killed, while 15 have been rescued, China's English daily Global Times reported, citing a statement by the embassy.

MANILA, April 30 (NNN-XINHUA) — Four people are missing after a dive yacht with 32 people sank in the waters off Tubattaha in Palawan province on Sunday morning, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

Commodore Armando Balilo said the yacht, M/Y Dream Keeper, sank before 7 a.m. local time Sunday. He said the boat left Cebu Thursday afternoon and arrived in Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park on Saturday night.

Balilo said the yacht was carrying 32 people, including 15 crew, 12 passengers, and five divemasters, adding that 28 people have been saved while four are missing.

ABOARD BRP MALABRIGO (AP) — A Chinese coast guard ship blocked a Philippine patrol vessel steaming into a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, causing a frightening near-collision in the latest act of Beijing’s aggression in the strategic waterway.

The high seas face-off Sunday between the larger Chinese ship and the Philippine coast guard’s BRP Malapascua near the Second Thomas Shoal was among the tense moments it and another Philippine vessel encountered in a weeklong sovereignty patrol in one of the world’s most hotly contested waterways.