Philippines

SAN ANTONIO, Philippines (AP) — American and Filipino forces pummeled a ship with a barrage of high-precision rockets, airstrikes and artillery fire in their largest war drills on Wednesday in Philippine waters facing the disputed South China Sea that would likely antagonize China.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. watched the American show of firepower from an observation tower in the coastal town of San Antonio in northwestern Zambales province — the latest indication of his strong backing of the Philippines’ treaty alliance with the U.S.

MANILA, April 22 (Reuters) - Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his foreign secretary met Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Saturday with Manila and Beijing pledging to work together to resolve their maritime differences in the South China Sea.

Talks between the countries' key officials in Manila mark the latest in a series of high-level meetings of the Philippines with leaders of the United States and China as the two superpowers battle for strategic advantage in the Indo-Pacific.

MANILA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Tuesday vowed to step up fight against political violence and illegal drug trade, saying the two are the biggest threat to the country's peace and order.

During a meeting with members of the national and regional peace and order councils at the presidential palace, Marcos noted that violent incidents were rampant after elections last year and people think that the situation has worsened.

MANILA, Apr 11 (NNN-PNA) – The Philippines’ total external trade in goods, fell by 14.4 percent in Feb, 2023, to 14.03 billion U.S. dollars, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said today.

Of the total external trade in Feb, 63.8 percent were imported goods, while the rest were exported goods, the agency said.

The balance of trade amounted to -3.88 billion U.S. dollars, indicating a trade deficit with an annual decrease of 2.7 percent, it added.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — American and Filipino forces on Tuesday launched their largest combat exercises in decades to be highlighted by a ship-sinking rocket barrage in waters across the disputed South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, where Washington has repeatedly warned China over its increasingly aggressive actions.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United States and the Philippines on Tuesday launch their largest combat exercises in decades that will involve live-fire drills, including a boat-sinking rocket assault in waters across the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait that will likely inflame China.

MANILA, April 10 (Reuters) - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr assured China on Monday that military bases accessible to the United States would not be used in any offensive action, stressing the arrangement with Washington was designed to boost his country's defences.

China's foreign ministry last week said the United States strengthening military deployment in the Philippines would only lead to more tension in the region, after Manila allowed Washington access to more of its bases.

SAN PEDRO CUTUD, Philippines (AP) — Eight Filipinos were nailed to crosses to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a bloody Good Friday tradition, including a carpenter, who was crucified for the 34th time with a prayer for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to end because it has made poor people like him more desperate.

MANILA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Two car crashes occurred in the Philippines on Thursday, killing four, including a pregnant woman, and injuring nine others, police said.

Police said the first collision happened at nearly 1:00 a.m. in Tagum City in Davao del Norte province in the southern part of the country, involving a shuttle bus and a patrol car transporting a pregnant woman to a hospital.

The impact caused the patrol vehicle to tumble and crash on its side, killing the pregnant woman and two others, and injuring another two, police said.

MANILA, Apr 5 (NNN-PNA) – An offshore earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6, jolted the eastern Philippines last night, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said, however, no damage or casualties were reported yet.

The institute said, the quake, which occurred at 8:54 p.m. local time (1254 GMT), hit at a depth of nine km, about 120 km south-east of Gigmoto town, in Catanduanes province.