Philippines
Marcos, Duterte new Philippines president and vice-president
The son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte are the new leaders of the Philippines, an alliance that ushers in six years of governance that has some human rights activists concerned about the course their country may take with the pair in power.
Here is a look at the new president and vice president of the Philippines, who ran in separate races for their posts.
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FERDINAND MARCOS JR.
A former provincial governor, congressman and senator, the 64-year-old son who goes by his childhood nickname “Bongbong” has managed to return his family to the presidency 36 years after the “People Power” revolt ousted his father and sent him into exile for filching billions and mass human rights abuses.
His mother, Imelda Marcos, twice unsuccessfully attempted to retake the seat of power after returning with her children to the Philippines from exile in the United States, where her husband died in 1989.
Marcos Jr. has defended his father’s legacy and steadfastly refuses to apologize for or acknowledge the atrocities and plunder during the dictatorship. Married to a lawyer, with whom he has three sons, he has stayed away from controversies, including a past tax conviction and the Marcos family’s refusal to pay a huge estate tax. Throughout his campaign, he tenaciously stuck to a battle cry of national unity. He denies accusations that he financed a yearslong social media campaign that harnessed online trolls to smear opponents and whitewash the Marcos family’s checkered history, daring critics to “show me one.”
SARA DUTERTE
Sara Duterte, 43, is the outgoing mayor of Davao City, which was her father's constituency before he was elected president in 2016.
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A lawyer and reserve officer in the Philippine army, Duterte has carved out her own political career and, although at times supportive of her father, is considered more levelheaded and pragmatic.
Duterte's party originally wanted her to succeed him, but she chose instead to run for vice-president.
A mother of three, she has been the longtime mayor of Davao, an economically vibrant city where the elder Duterte first carved a political name with his populist rhetoric and often bloody approach against criminality, especially the widespread trafficking and use of illegal drugs, before he rose to the presidency in 2016.
Bangladeshi businessman shot dead in Philippines
A Bangladeshi businessman has been shot dead by some unidentified gunmen in Metro Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
The deceased was identified as Anwar Hossain, 63, of Munshiganj district. He was president of Bangladesh Garment Traders Association Philippines Corporation.
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Anwar was attacked at Pasay City around Philippine time 8:37 pm on Thursday, confirmed Anwar Hossain's brother Abul Hossain to UNB.
Anwar used to sell garments from Bangladesh in the Philippines.
Efforts are underway to bring the body back to the country, said Abul Hossain.
His family has appealed to the Bangladesh Embassy in Manila to take the issue up with the local authorities in the Philippines for a proper investigation into the killing so they get justice.
Philippine governor warns of looting without typhoon aid
The governor of a central Philippine province devastated by Typhoon Rai last week pleaded on radio Tuesday for the government to quickly send food and other aid, warning that without outside help, army troops and police forces would have to be deployed to prevent looting amid growing hunger.
Governor Arthur Yap of Bohol province said he could no longer secure rice and other food aid after his contingency fund ran out and added that many of the 1.2 million people in his island province, which remained without power and cellphone service five days after the typhoon struck, have become increasingly desperate.
The most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippine archipelago this year left at least 375 dead and 50 others missing mostly in its central region, including nearly 100 dead in Bohol, according to officials.
President Rodrigo Duterte visited Bohol over the weekend and witnessed the extensive devastation. Yap said the government’s social welfare department promised to send 35,000 food packs, an inadequate amount for the province’s 375,000 families, but even those have not yet arrived.
Read: More than 200 dead after typhoon slams Philippines
In an interview on DZBB radio network, Yap thanked Duterte for visiting his province but said, “If you would not send money for food, you should send soldiers and police, because if not lootings will break out here.”
Some lootings mostly of small merchandise stores have occurred, Yap said, adding that the situation remained under control. But he warned that the lootings could worsen if people, especially in hard-hit island municipalities, grow more desperate. People cannot withdraw money from banks without cellphone connections and power, and fuel and water shortages have also sparked long queues, he said.
The national police said widespread lootings were not a problem in the typhoon-ravaged regions and added that they were ready to deal with any lawlessness.
Typhoon Rai packed sustained winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles) per hour with gusts of up to 270 kph (168 mph) at its most lethal before blowing out into the South China Sea on Friday. At least 375 people were killed mostly by falling trees and in flash floods, with 56 others missing and 500 injured, according to the national police. But the toll may still increase as emergency crews restore communications and power to more towns and villages.
Nearly a million people were lashed by the typhoon, including more than 400,000 who had to be moved to emergency shelters as the typhoon approached. Some have begun to return home but others either lost their houses entirely or need to do major repairs.
Read: Powerful typhoon hits Philippines, nearly 100,000 evacuated
Emergency crews were working to restore electricity in 227 cities and towns, officials said Monday, adding that power had been restored in only 21 areas so far. Cellphone connections have been restored in at least 106 of more than 130 cities and towns. Two local airports remained closed Monday except for emergency flights, but most others have reopened, the civil aviation agency said.
Duterte said government emergency funds have been mostly used for the coronavirus pandemic but promised to raise 2 billion pesos ($40 million) from government agency savings to provide additional funds to typhoon-hit provinces.
The Philippines has not appealed for international help but Japan said it was sending power generators, camping tents, sleeping pads, water containers and tarpaulin roofing sheets to hard-hit regions while China announced it was providing 20,000 food packs and rice.
About 20 tropical storms and typhoons annually batter the Philippines, which also lies along the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” region, where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions frequently occur, making the Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 million people one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.ucci, File)
More than 200 dead after typhoon slams Philippines
The death toll following the strongest typhoon to batter the Philippines this year has risen to more than 200, with 52 other people still missing and several central towns and provinces grappling with downed communications and power outages and pleading for food and water, officials said Monday.
At its strongest, the typhoon packed sustained winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 270 kph (168 mph) before it blew out Friday into the South China Sea.
At least 208 people were killed, 52 remained missing and 239 were injured, according to the national police. The toll was expected to increase because several towns and villages remained out of reach due to downed communications and power outages although massive clean-up and repair efforts were underway.
Many died due to falling trees and collapsing walls, flash flood and landslides. A 57-year-old man was found dead hanging from a tree branch and a woman was blown away by the wind and died in Negros Occidental province, police said.
Governor Arlene Bag-ao of Dinagat Islands, among the southeastern provinces first hit by the typhoon, said Rai’s ferocity on her island province of more than 130,000 was worse than that of Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful and deadliest typhoons on record and which devastated the central Philippines in November 2013 but did not inflict any casualties in Dinagat.
“If it was like being in a washing machine before, this time there was like a huge monster that smashed itself everywhere, grabbed anything like trees and tin roofs and then hurled them everywhere,” Bag-ao told The Associated Press by telephone. “The wind was swirling north to south to east and west repeatedly for six hours. Some tin roof sheets were blown away then were tossed back.”
At least 14 villagers died and more than 100 others were injured by flying tin roofs, debris and glass shards and were treated in makeshift surgery rooms in damaged hospitals in Dinagat, Bag-ao said. Many more would have died if thousands of residents had not been evacuated from high-risk villages.
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Like several other typhoon-hit provinces, Dinagat remained without electricity and communications and many residents in the province, where the roofs of most houses and buildings were ripped off, needed construction materials, food and water. Bag-ao and other provincial officials traveled to nearby regions that had cellphone signals to seek aid and coordinate recovery efforts with the national government.
More than 700,000 people were lashed by the typhoon in central island provinces, including more than 400,000 who had to be moved to emergency shelters. Thousands of residents were rescued from flooded villages, including in Loboc town in hard-hit Bohol province, where residents were trapped on roofs and trees to escape from rising floodwaters.
Coast guard ships ferried 29 American, British, Canadian, Swiss, Russian, Chinese and other tourists who were stranded on Siargao Island, a popular surfing destination that was devastated by the typhoon, officials said.
Emergency crews were scrambling to restore electricity in 227 cities and towns, officials said. Power has been restored in only 21 areas so far. Cellphone connections in more than 130 cities and towns were cut by the typhoon but at least 106 had been reconnected by Monday, officials said. Two local airports remained closed except for emergency flights, but most others have reopened, the civil aviation agency said.
Bag-ao and other officials were concerned that their provinces may run out of fuel, which was in high demand due to the use of temporary power generators, including those used for refrigerated warehouses with large amounts of coronavirus vaccine stocks. Officials delivered vaccine shipments to many provinces for an intensified immunization campaign, which was postponed last week due to the typhoon.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis expressed his closeness Sunday to the people of the Philippines, referencing the typhoon “that destroyed many homes.”
About 20 storms and typhoons annually batter the Philippines, which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. The Southeast Asian archipelago also lies along the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” region, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
Typhoon leaves 19 dead, many homes roofless in Philippines
A powerful typhoon left at least 19 people dead, knocked down power and communications in entire provinces and wrought widespread destruction mostly in the central Philippines, officials said Saturday. A governor said her island province has been “leveled to the ground."
Typhoon Rai blew away Friday night into the South China Sea after rampaging through southern and central island provinces, where more than 300,000 people in its path were evacuated to safety in advance in a pre-emptive move officials say may have saved a lot of lives.
At its strongest, Rai packed sustained winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 270 kph (168 mph), one of the most powerful in recent years to hit the disaster-prone Southeast Asian archipelago, which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. The typhoon slammed into the country’s southeastern coast Thursday but the extent of casualties and destruction remained unclear two days after with entire provinces still without power and cellphone connection.
READ: Powerful typhoon hits Philippines, nearly 100,000 evacuated
The national police reported at least 19 dead but did not provide other details. The government’s main disaster-response agency reported a lower death toll of 12, mostly villagers hit by falling trees, because it said it had to carefully validate each death.
Officials on Dinagat Islands, one of the first provinces to be lashed by the typhoon’s ferocious winds, remained cut off Saturday due to downed power and communication lines. But its governor, Arlene Bag-ao, managed to post a statement on the province’s website to say that the province of about 180,000 “has been leveled to the ground.” She pleaded for food, water, temporary shelters, fuel, hygiene kits and medical supplies. She said only a few casualties have been reported in the capital so far because other towns remain isolated.
“We may have survived, but we cannot do the same in the coming days because of our limited capacities as an island province,” Bag-ao said, adding some of Dinagat’s hospitals could not open due to damage. “Most of our commercial and cargo vessels ... are now unsuitable for sea voyages, effectively cutting us off from the rest of the country.”
Vice Gov. Nilo Demerey managed to reach a nearby province and told DZMM radio network that at least six residents died and that “almost 95% of houses in Dinagat have no roof,” and even emergency shelters were destroyed.
“We’re currently doing repairs because even our evacuation centers were destroyed. There are no shelters, the churches, gymnasium, schools, public markets and even the capitol were all shattered,” Demerey said.
Pictures posted on Dinagat’s website show low-slung houses with roofs either blown off or damaged and surrounded by tin roof sheets and debris.
In central Bohol province, which was directly hit by the typhoon, the coast guard said its personnel on board rubber boats rescued residents who were trapped on roofs and trees, as waters rose rapidly. It released footage showing coast guard staff helping people from the roof of a house nearly engulfed by brownish floodwater to a rubber boat. They also help a villager climb down from a tree above the floodwater while another man, also wearing an orange life vest, waits for his turn.
With government contingency funds used for the coronavirus pandemic, President Rodrigo Duterte said he would look for money to help the provinces. He planned to visit the devastated region this weekend.
About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago is located in the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” region, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
Powerful typhoon hits Philippines, nearly 100,000 evacuated
A powerful typhoon slammed into the southeastern Philippines on Thursday and was blowing across island provinces where nearly 100,000 people have been evacuated from high-risk areas that could be devastated by flash floods, landslides and tidal surges, officials said.
Forecasters said Typhoon Rai, which had sustained winds of 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 230 kph (143 mph), blew from the Pacific Ocean into the Siargao Islands. There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage but military and coast guard rescue personnel were helping residents stranded by fast-rising waters.
Disaster-response officials said about 10,000 villages lie in the projected path of the typhoon, which has a 400-kilometer (248-mile)-wide rain band and is one of the strongest to hit the country this year.
The Philippine coast guard said it has grounded all vessels, stranding nearly 4,000 passengers and ferry and cargo ship workers in dozens of southern and central ports. Several mostly domestic flights have been canceled and schools and workplaces were shut in the most vulnerable areas.
More than 98,000 people have been evacuated to safety, the government's disaster-response agency said. Crowding in evacuation centers was complicating efforts to keep people safely distanced after authorities detected the country’s first infections caused by the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Intensified vaccinations were also halted in provinces likely to experience stormy weather.
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The Philippines is among the hardest-hit in Southeast Asia by the pandemic, with confirmed infections of more than 2.8 million and more than 50,000 deaths. Quarantine restrictions have been eased and more businesses have been allowed to reopen in recent weeks after an intensified vaccination campaign helped reduce infections to a few hundred from more than 26,000 in September. The detection of the omicron cases this week, however, has set off the alarm and the government renewed calls for people to avoid crowds and get vaccinated immediately.
Gov. Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar province said he suspended vaccinations in his region of nearly half a million people due to the typhoon. More than 70% of villagers in the province have gotten at least one shot, and Evardone expressed concern because some vaccines stored in Eastern Samar will expire in a few months.
Overcrowding is unavoidable, he said, in the limited number of evacuation centers in his province, where more than 32,000 people have been moved to safety.
“It’s impossible to observe social distancing, it will really be tough,” Evardone told The Associated Press. “What we do is we cluster evacuees by families. We don’t mix different people in the same place as a precaution.”
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About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago is also located in the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” region, making it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
Borhan Uddin new Bangladesh envoy to Philippines
The government has appointed F. M. Borhan Uddin, currently serving as the Director General of West Asia Wing and Coordinator of Corona Cell at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the next Ambassador of Bangladesh to the Republic of the Philippines.
Borhan Uddin is a career foreign service officer belonging to 15th batch of Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) Foreign Affairs cadre, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday.
He served in various capacities in Bangladesh Missions in Cairo, Dubai, Seoul and Colombo in his distinguished diplomatic career.
He also served as the Consul General at Bangladesh Consulates General in Istanbul and Jeddah. At the headquarters, he worked for multiple Wings in different capacities.
Borhan Uddin did his graduation and post-graduation in Sociology from the University of Dhaka. Later he obtained another degree in Law (LLB Hons.) from the University of London.
Delta concerns: Philippines extends travel ban for Bangladesh, 9 other countries
The Philippines has extended a ban on travellers from Bangladesh and nine other countries to August 31 because of concerns posed by the highly contagious Delta variant of the Covid-19, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Friday.
Aside from India where the Delta variant was first detected, the Philippines also banned travellers from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Oman, and the UAE, where the variant has spread.
However, the country will allow returning overseas Filipino workers under its repatriation programme, but they will be isolated for 14 days upon their arrival.
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The Philippines is grappling with soaring Covid-19 infections fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant, prompting the government to reimpose a hard lockdown in Metro Manila and other regions.
The Philippines now has more than 1.7 million confirmed Covid-19 cases and 29,539 deaths.
The travel ban, first issued on April 27, was later expanded to include Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Oman, and the UAE.
On July 16, the country added Indonesia to the list, followed by Malaysia and Thailand on July 25. The ban was set to expire on Sunday, but the government extended it until August 31.
Philippines extends travel ban on Bangladesh, 9 other countries as Delta variant spreads
The Philippines has extended its travel ban for all inbound travelers from India and nine other countries to August 31 as Delta variant cases rise across the country, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Friday.
The Delta variant has spread in the Philippines, where 627 cases have been reported, including 11 deaths.
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Aside from India where the Delta variant was first detected, the Philippines also banned travelers from Bangladesh,Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal,Sri Lanka, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, where the variant has spread.
However, the country allows returning overseas Filipino workers under its repatriation program, but they will be isolated for 14 days upon the arrival.
Read:Philippines weighs extending lockdown as COVID cases top 1M
The Philippines is grappling with soaring COVID-19 infections fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant, prompting the government to reimpose a hard lockdown in Metro Manila and other regions.
The Philippines now has more than 1.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 29,539 deaths.
China, Philippines swap protests over Manila-occupied island
The Philippines has demanded that China withdraw its ships and fishing vessels from the vicinity of a Philippine-occupied island in the South China Sea, where the Chinese military has asserted its sovereignty and vowed to “unswervingly safeguard” the disputed territory.
The exchange of protests by the Asian neighbors over the island, internationally called Thitu, is the latest flareup in a long simmering territorial feud in the strategic waterway that has escalated in the last two months.
The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said Saturday it has filed a diplomatic protest against “the incessant deployment, prolonged presence and illegal activities of Chinese maritime assets and fishing vessels in the vicinity of the Pag-asa islands.” It used the Philippine name for Thitu, which China calls Zhongye Dao.
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The department demanded that China withdraw its vessels from near the island, which it said “is an integral part of the Philippines over which it has sovereignty and jurisdiction.”
The 37.2-hectare (92-acre) island is the largest of nine mostly islets, reefs and shoals occupied by Philippine forces in the disputed waters. The Manila government lists Thitu and outlying outcrops as part of a town in western Palawan province.
Aside from Filipino troops and police, a small fishing community can be found on Thitu. The government has constructed a beach ramp to allow the docking of navy and cargo ships and unloading of construction materials and heavy equipment for new projects, including the repair and lengthening of a seawater-eroded airstrip, an ice plant for fishermen and more military barracks.
Chinese officials have not protested as loudly as before the Philippine constructions amid cozier ties between Beijing and Manila under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. But on Thursday, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Tang Kefei said China was “resolutely opposed” to any Philippine development on Thitu.
“China’s military will unswervingly safeguard national territory, sovereignty and maritime rights, while resolutely maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea,” Tang said, without elaborating at a monthly briefing.
The escalating feud between Manila and Beijing started after more than 200 Chinese vessels suspected by Philippine authorities to be operated by government militias were spotted in early March at Whitsun Reef. The Philippine defense chief and foreign secretary demanded the vessels leave, and Filipino officials later deployed navy and coast guard vessels to the area. China said it owns the reef and the Chinese vessels were sheltering there from rough seas.
The Philippines has issued dozens of diplomatic protests to China since then over the disputes.
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Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. apologized early this month after tweeting an obscene phrase demanding China get out of Philippine-claimed territory in the South China Sea in an outburst that annoyed Duterte.
“Just because we have a conflict with China does not mean to say that we have to be rude and disrespectful,” Duterte said. “We have many things to thank China for the help in the past and its assistance now.”