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Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is under serious pressure. A wave of protests over corruption in flood control projects has piled pressure on his government. Cabinet ministers have resigned. And further rallies, which the Catholic Church is throwing its weight behind, are planned for Nov. 30. The turmoil has sparked speculation about Marcos being unseated via impeachment or coup. For now, this possibility probably shouldn’t be taken too seriously. The military and leading politicians have denied considering such options. And there is barely a modern Filipino president who hasn’t at some time or other been subject to such rumors...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s estranged sister, a senator, publicly accused him Monday of being a longtime drug addict whose alleged cocaine dependence has led to problems in his governance, including corruption, allegations that his spokesperson said was a recycled issue that has long been disproven. Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said Sen. Imee Marcos’ baseless accusations against her own brother may have been a desperate attempt to distract ongoing investigations into a corruption scandal involving flood control projects that may implicate her allies in the Senate. “Sen. Imee, I hope you’ll be a patriot and help in the investigation that...

(A popular left-wing Internet meme, unknown creator. Screenshot by author.)A popular left-wing meme (unknown author) compares Rodrigo Duterte, former president of the Philippines who was often called the “Donald Trump of Asia” for his fiery speaking style and unconventional leadership, with Donald Trump himself. Earlier this year, Duterte was arrested for his role in an “anti-narcotics campaign” that saw thousands killed.Under international law, there is no question that Duterte went way overboard with his War on Drugs. Many killings were extrajudicial. He offered bounties for the dead bodies of known drug traffickers, without caring how they were killed, or by...

Philippine military chief Romeo Brawner Jnr has revealed he recently rebuffed a group of eight retired generals and colonels who urged him to tackle rampant corruption in the country, a call sources have described as a push for a “soft coup” to withdraw support from President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and back Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio. General Brawner, who spoke to This Week in Asia after a briefing with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap) on Friday, said the overture was made on September 20, on the eve of nationwide protests over the 1.9 trillion peso (US$33 billion) flood control...

Smartmatic — the company involved in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News over the latter’s reporting on the 2020 election — was indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami on Thursday for allegedly bribing a Philippine official in relation to the 2016 Philippine national elections.The indictment added the parent company of Smartmatic, SGO Corporation Ltd., as a defendant in the case already underway against three Smartmatic executives. The indictment charges that between 2015 and 2018, Smartmatic executives Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, Jorge Miguel Vasquez, and others “caused at least $1 million in bribes to be paid” to the former...

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The 80-year-old is accused of being criminally responsible for dozens of murders that allegedly took place as part of his so-called war on drugs, during which thousands of small-time drug dealers, users and others were killed without trial. The ICC's charge sheet, which includes several redactions, dates from July but was only made public on Monday. ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said Duterte was an "indirect co-perpetrator" in the killings, which the court alleges were carried out by others, including police....

Subic Bay, about 55 miles northwest of Manila, sits within striking distance of China. The United States is moving forward with plans to establish what could become the world’s largest weapons manufacturing hub in the Philippines’ Subic Bay, once home to the biggest US naval base in Asia, to counter China’s expanding military presence in the region. The plans got a real push when Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inaugurated HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Philippines’ new shipyard at the former Hanjin complex, now renamed Agila Subic by American investment firm Cerberus Capital Management. Backed by US and South Korean...

Footage shows Chinese coast guard vessel with its entire bow caved in after colliding with Chinese warship near contested Scarborough ShoalA Chinese warship collided with a vessel from its own coast guard while chasing a Philippine patrol boat in the South China Sea on Monday, Manila said, releasing dramatic video footage of the confrontation. The incident occurred near the contested Scarborough Shoal as the Philippine Coast Guard escorted vessels distributing aid to fishers in the area, said coast guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela in a statement. Video released by Manila showed a China Coast Guard ship and a much larger...

We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made. Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits. This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it. Perhaps most importantly, Japan will open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products, and other things. Japan will pay Reciprocal Tariffs to the United States of 15%. This is a very exciting time for the United States of America, and especially for...

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines have reached a trade agreement. Shortly after, he also revealed more detailed terms of an agreement with Indonesia. Both agreements call for 19% tariffs on goods the US imports from the two countries, paid by American businesses, while American goods shipped there won’t be charged a tariff. Trump’s announcement of the agreement with the Philippines came after he met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the White House on Tuesday. “It was a beautiful visit, and we concluded our Trade Deal,” Trump wrote on his social...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a new 19% tariff rate for goods from the Philippines after what he called a "beautiful visit" by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the White House, saying U.S. goods would pay zero tariffs. "It was a beautiful visit, and we concluded our Trade Deal, whereby The Philippines is going OPEN MARKET with the United States, and ZERO Tariffs. The Philippines will pay a 19% Tariff," Trump said, calling Marcos a "very good and tough negotiator." Trump said the two Pacific allies would also work together militarily but gave no details. Marcos, the...

President Trump announced Tuesday that he had sealed a new trade deal with the Philippines after meeting with the island nation’s “tough” president, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., at the White House. “It was a beautiful visit, and we concluded our Trade Deal, whereby The Philippines is going OPEN MARKET with the United States, and ZERO Tariffs. The Philippines will pay a 19% Tariff,” Trump, 79, wrote on Truth Social. The US has struck economic agreements with only a handful of countries so far — including with the UK and China — but the administration is hoping to announce dozens more...

China has “enforced maritime management and exercised sovereign jurisdiction” over an uninhabited reef in the disputed South China Sea, planting the country’s flag on the tiny sand bank just kilometers from a key Philippine military outpost. Photographs released by Chinese state-run media on Saturday showed China Coast Guard officers unfurling the flag as part of an effort to effectively seize Sandy Cay reef, which Beijing calls Tiexian Jiao, earlier this month. The reef, located in the flash point Spratly Island chain, is also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines. Sandy Cay also sits just over 3 kilometers from Thitu...

Bangkok -- Search teams in Myanmar recovered more bodies from the ruins of buildings on Friday, a week after a massive earthquake killed more than 3,100 people, as the focus turns toward the urgent humanitarian needs in a country already devastated by a continuing civil war. United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, who is also the emergency relief coordinator, will visit the area on Friday in an effort to spur action following the March 28 quake. Ahead of the visit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the international community to immediately step up funding for quake victims “to match the...

A former Hawaii resident, and longtime green card holder, is among those being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. HONOLULU (Hawaii News Now) -- Green card holders are officially Lawful Permanent Residents of the United States, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. But being a resident of the United States is very different from being a citizen. Lewelyn Dixon immigrated from the Philippines to Hawaii 50 years ago. She graduated from Farrington High School and has been working as a lab technician at the University of Washington. Dixon was returning home to Seattle from a family trip...

Three years ago, the most powerful political families in the Philippines joined hands to secure the nation’s biggest election victory in four decades. Now they are locked in a feud that threatens to derail one of Asia’s economic growth stars. In dramatic events on Tuesday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s government arrested and deported his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte to face the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The move came just over a month after the impeachment of his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, by allies of Marcos. A Senate trial, which would determine whether she gets removed from office,...

The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has landed in the Netherlands and been taken into the custody of the international criminal court (ICC) on allegations of overseeing death squads in his bloody “war on drugs”. Duterte was arrested in Manila on Tuesday and placed on a private jet to Rotterdam by police. The plane landed on Wednesday afternoon and taxied into a hangar. An ambulance dropped medics nearby before they wheeled a gurney inside the aircraft. The ICC later released a statement saying Duterte had been “surrendered to the custody” of the court. It added that “as a precautionary measure,...

March 10 (UPI) -- Former President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines was arrested Tuesday morning in Manila on an International Criminal Court warrant for crimes against humanity over his bloody war on drugs. He was arrested at 9:20 a.m. local time after he arrived in Manila from Hong Kong aboard Cathay Pacific flight CX 907, the Philippines government said in a statement. "The former President and his group are in good health and were examined by government doctors to ensure his well-being," the statement said. This is a developing story.

MANILA (UPDATED) — The Philippine Army on Tuesday said the US' Mid-Range Capability (MRC) missile system recently transferred to an undisclosed location in the country would be used in the upcoming Combined Arms Training Exercise (CATEX) Katihan in February. China calls US missile deployment in Philippines 'dangerous' But Army spokesperson Col. Louie Dema-ala said the use of the Typhon missile launchers will be limited to subject matter expert exchanges (SMEEs), which will focus on the orientation and familiarization of the capability. “The second iteration of the SMEEs with the MRC between the US Army Pacific (USARPAC) and the Army Artillery...

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said Saturday she has contracted an assassin to kill the president, his wife and the House of Representatives speaker if she herself is killed, in a brazen public threat that she warned was not a joke. Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin referred the “active threat” against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to an elite presidential guards force “for immediate proper action.” It was not immediately clear what actions would be taken against the vice president. The Presidential Security Command immediately boosted Marcos’ security and said it considered the vice president’s threat, which was “made so brazenly in...