Philippines

MANILA, June 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte renewed on Friday a threat to kill drug dealers after police seized 756kg of methamphetamines, a haul he said proved the Southeast Asian country had become a transhipment point for narcotics.

The crystal methamphetamine, with a Philippine market value that police put at 5.1 billion pesos (US$102.2 million), was one of the biggest seizures since Duterte unleashed his bloody war on drugs, which has defined his presidency, in 2016.

MANILA, May 23 (NNN-PNA) – An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 shook Philippines’ main island of Luzon today (Saturday), the Philippine Institute of Seismology and Volcanology (Phivolcs) said.

The institute said, the quake, which struck at 10:10 a.m. local time, hit about 16 km southwest of San Luis town, in Aurora Province, at a depth of seven km.

Phivolcs initially reported that the earthquake was magnitude 5.1, but later upgraded it to magnitude 5.4 in an updated bulletin.

15 May 2020; AFP: The coronavirus pandemic could cut up to 9.7 percent off the global economy, the Asian Development Bank said Friday, doubling its previous estimate as the virus stifles trade and leaves millions jobless.

The estimated impact would cost as much as $8.8 trillion based on a range of scenarios, but ADB said government interventions could help offset the losses inflicted by the crisis.

MANILA, May 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Over 140,000 people were forced into cramped shelters as a powerful typhoon hammered the Philippines on Friday, compounding the nation’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic.

Typhoon Vongfong has dumped heavy rains since it roared ashore on Thursday, with hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in its path on the coast or in flimsy homes.

The storm hit as tens of millions of Filipinos are hunkered down at home against the coronavirus, but at least 141,700 have had to flee because of the powerful storm, disaster officials said.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A strong typhoon roared toward the eastern Philippines on Thursday as authorities work to evacuate tens of thousands of people while avoiding overcrowding in shelters that could spread the coronavirus.

The first typhoon to hit the country this year is expected to slam ashore later Thursday, weather agency administrator Vicente Malano said.

CAVITE, Philippines (AP) — A cruise ship being investigated in Australia for sparking coronavirus infections has sailed into Philippine waters to bring Filipino crew members home.

The Philippine coast guard said Thursday the Ruby Princess has arrived in Manila Bay, where at least 16 other cruise ships have converged while waiting for more than 5,000 Filipino crew members to be tested for the coronavirus before disembarking.

MANILA, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Eighteen guards and inmates at a jam-packed Philippine prison have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said, heightening fears of a rapid spread of the illness inside the country’s jails.

Another 30 prisoners were showing symptoms inside the Quezon City Jail in the capital Manila – a facility so crowded that inmates take turns sleeping on staircases and open-air basketball courts.

17 April 2020; AFP: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened a martial law-like crackdown to stop people flouting a virus lockdown in the nation's capital.

Duterte spoke a day after authorities reported an upsurge of cars on Manila's roads, which have been nearly deserted since a sweeping lockdown was imposed a month ago on about half the country's 110 million people.

Manila, Apr 13 (AFP/PTI) The Asian Development Bank said Monday it will roll out a massive USD 20 billion package to help developing member nations weather the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The fund represents the tripling of a package announced just a month ago, which the ADB decided to boost as the scale of the contagion's impact has mushroomed.

MANILA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Monday it tripled the size of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic to 20 billion U.S. dollars and approved measures to streamline its operations for quicker and more flexible delivery of assistance.

The Manila-based bank said the package expands ADB's 6.5 billion U.S. dollars initial response announced on March 18, adding 13.5 billion U.S. dollars in resources to help ADB's developing members counter the severe macroeconomic and health impacts caused by COVID-19.