Philippine authorities have introduced a new national playbook for raiding and prosecuting online scam centres, as criminal networks once tied to the country’s offshore gaming industry splinter into smaller and harder-to-detect operations. The rules aim to close gaps exposed during earlier raids, when agencies struggled to coordinate evidence, freeze assets, identify trafficking victims and build cases against operators who often left few physical traces. Analysts and former officials said the...
As impeachment looms, Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio and her spouse are firing back at allegations of ill-gotten wealth, with the couple’s combative responses seen as damage control over what critics say will be “smoking gun” evidence to be presented to the Senate. A handful of lawmakers are expecting the House of Representatives to submit Articles of Impeachment against Duterte-Carpio to the Senate soon. “I think she will be impeached by the first week of May. My guess is 160 to...
“Balikatan 2026” is meant to reassure allies and deter adversaries. But the military exercise hosted by the Philippines also reveals a harsher truth: the Indo-Pacific is drifting into a security logic in which deterrence no longer contains risk but multiplies it. Every move taken in the name of stability now invites a countermove. Every display of resolve is answered by another. The result is not equilibrium, but a trap. That is why diplomacy has to return to the centre of regional strategy...
Questions over Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s health, amplified by supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte, have reached the Supreme Court, turning a dispute over presidential fitness into a rare test of constitutional disclosure. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court gave Marcos 10 days, or until early May, to comment on a petition regarding his state of health. The court was reacting to an “urgent petition” for a “writ of mandamus” filed by political allies and supporters of...
The Philippines has emerged as the clearest example of what observers say is Japan’s shift towards a more active defence role abroad, with both countries deepening their military cooperation in areas ranging from joint drills to technological partnerships. Japanese forces are taking part for the first time in this year’s Balikatan military exercises hosted by the Philippines, while bilateral cooperation is set to expand after Tokyo eased its defence export rules on Tuesday. These activities...
The former president will face trial after court confirmed charges of crimes against humanity over his 'war on drugs'.
The Philippines is trying to gradually establish “stable foundations” for its relations with China before tackling tougher problems such as the long-running South China Sea dispute, according to the country’s ambassador to Beijing. “We need a new equilibrium in our relations with China. Both sides [have agreed] to take incremental or baby steps towards that,” Jaime FlorCruz told the South China Morning Post. “That means a relationship that is stable, that is predictable, that is not subject to...
The flags arrived before BINI did. They were already rippling across the Mojave Tent at Coachella in a sea of blue, red and white when the eight-member group took the stage on a recent Friday afternoon, carried by fans who had travelled across oceans and time zones for a moment that had never been seen before. The 45-minute set that followed made BINI the first P-pop act from the Philippines – and the first Southeast Asian girl group – to perform at one of the world’s most influential music...
The arrest of fugitive former congressman Zaldy Co has revived a long-stalled Philippine corruption investigation and sharpened political pressure on President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, whom the wanted lawmaker has accused of personally benefiting from a multibillion-peso kickback scheme tied to flood control projects. Observers called Co’s arrest a “notable step towards accountability” in a case that had stalled after the collapse of the commission set up to investigate it. Co resigned from the...
The decades-long negotiations on a code of conduct in the South China Sea may finally come to an end this year. Several parties involved, including China and the Philippines, have expressed confidence in reaching a final conclusion to the proposed set of rules in the contested waterways in the coming months. In March, Beijing signalled its hope of concluding negotiations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by the end of the year while Manila has repeatedly expressed its intention to...
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said on Thursday night that a key suspect in a corruption scandal that has sparked public outrage in the Philippines has been arrested in the Czech Republic and that efforts were under way to repatriate the former lawmaker. Zaldy Co, who resigned from the House of Representatives in September after being implicated in financial anomalies involving flood control projects, was detained by authorities in Prague after crossing into the Central European...
With fuel prices in the Philippines among the world’s hardest hit by the Iran war, consumer groups are urging the government to take bolder action, including tighter control over pump prices. Economists say the more realistic options are tax relief, targeted subsidies and transport support rather than direct price controls. Sharon Garin, secretary of the Philippines’ Department of Energy, said on a radio programme on Sunday that the country might no longer see diesel at 60 pesos (US$1) per litre...
Former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte discussed removing President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr from office and even considered assassination if a supposed power-sharing deal fell apart, a jailed witness told a House impeachment hearing into Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio. Ramil Madriaga, a self-described political organiser, intelligence operative and bagman who said he had once been close to Duterte-Carpio, made the sensational allegations before the House Committee on Justice on Tuesday during...
The United States is planning a fuel depot in southern Philippines to support humanitarian and maritime security missions for its long-time ally in Asia, as part of a growing network of forward-based refuelling hubs in the Western Pacific. Located far from the flashpoint reefs at the centre of Manila’s maritime dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea, the depot marks what one observer called a “more mature and more serious stage” in the US-Philippine alliance: a shift from base access and...
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has called for an end to allegations of diesel being supplied to the Philippines, stating that the claim is untrue. Anwar said the recent shipment of diesel was not from national oil company Petronas but from a foreign commodity company, Vitol. “They [Vitol] have an agreement to transport oil and sell it to the Philippines. It is not us [Petronas] supplying it to the Philippines,” he said. “But we are not stopping it. We are giving passage. The oil belongs...
Officials warn cyanide could harm marine life and weaken the reef supporting a grounded warship.
Beijing rejects the allegation as a "farce", while Manila claims the poison was used to kill fish and deprive troops stationed in the area of food.
Japan’s participation in annual US-Philippine military exercises is a “big deal”, because it shows how Tokyo is taking a bigger role in regional groupings that could face off with China, according to analysts. More than 7,000 soldiers from the United States and Philippine armies are taking part in this year’s Salaknib drill, a joint annual exercise that started on the north of Luzon island on Monday. The exercise aims to “enhance combat readiness and interoperability between the two armies,...
The Philippine Coast Guard unveiled on Thursday its first dedicated command centre in the Spratly island chain, a flashpoint in the disputed South China Sea that has been the site of repeated confrontations with Chinese vessels. The headquarters of a newly established coastguard district, formerly overseen from neighbouring Palawan, will cover an area of about 68,000 sq km (26,000 sq miles). A journalist travelling to the new command centre on Thitu Island, known as Pagasa in the Philippines,...
A Filipino taxi driver who attempted to overcharge a member of K-pop group TXT has been suspended from operating, after the incident sparked backlash both in South Korea and the Philippines. According to a report aired on Monday on JTBC’s Chief Investigator, TXT member Choi Soo-bin, known mononymously as Soobin, was targeted in a taxi fare scam while travelling in Cebu, a popular tourist destination in the Philippines. The incident was originally revealed on Wednesday through the group’s...
The Philippines is the latest country to consider banning minors from social media, joining a regional wave led by Australia and Indonesia, but technology analysts warn that restricting access alone will do little to address the platform design flaws that expose young users to harm. Philippine Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday called for legislation to limit minors’ access to social media platforms, days after Indonesia began enforcing a ban on under-16s using “high-risk” platforms such as...