Philippines

Thousands of demonstrators, including members of the Roman Catholic church clergy, protested in the Philippines on Sunday, calling for the swift prosecution of top legislators and officials implicated in a corruption scandal that has buffeted the Asian democracy. Left-wing groups led a separate protest in Manila's main park with a blunt demand for all implicated government officials to immediately resign and face prosecution. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been scrambling to quell public outrage over the massive corruption blamed for substandard, defective or non-existent flood control projects across an archipelago long prone to deadly flooding and extreme weather in tropical Asia. More than 17,000 police officers were deployed in metropolitan Manila to secure the separate protests. The Malacanang presidential palace complex in Manila was in a security lockdown with key access roads and bridges blocked by anti-riot police forces, trucks and barbed wire railings. In a deeply ..

Typhoon Fung-wong blew out of the northwestern Philippines on Monday after setting off floods and landslides, knocking out power to entire provinces, killing at least two people and displacing more than 1.4 million others. It was forecast to head northwest toward Taiwan. Fung-wong lashed the northern Philippines while the country was still dealing with the devastation wrought by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which left at least 224 people dead in central provinces on Tuesday before pummelling Vietnam, where at least five were killed. Fung-wong slammed ashore in northeastern Aurora province on Sunday night as a super typhoon with sustained winds of up to 185 kph and gusts of up to 230 kph. The 1,800-kilometre-wide storm weakened as it raked through mountainous northern provinces and agricultural plains overnight before blowing away from the province of La Union into the South China Sea, according to state forecasters. One person drowned in flash floods in the eastern province of Catanduanes, a

Super Typhoon Fung-wong battered the Philippines' northeastern coast ahead of landfall on Sunday, leaving at least two people dead and forcing more than a million people to evacuate from areas at risk of flash floods, landslide and tidal surges, officials said. The typhoon could cover two-thirds of the Southeast Asian archipelago with its 1,800-kilometre-wide rain and wind band, forecasters said. It approached from the Pacific while the Philippines was still dealing with the devastation wrought by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which left at least 224 people dead in central provinces on Tuesday before pummelling Vietnam, where at least five were killed. A villager drowned in flash floods in the eastern province of Catanduanes and another died in Catbalogan city in eastern Samar province when she was pinned by debris, officials said. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared a state of emergency due to the extensive devastation caused by Kalmaegi and the expected calamity from ...

Super Typhoon Fung-wong, the biggest storm to threaten the Philippines this year, started battering the country's northeastern coast ahead of landfall on Sunday, knocking down power, forcing the evacuation of more than a million people and prompting the defence chief to warn many others to evacuate to safety from high-risk villages before it's too late. Fung-wong, which could cover two-thirds of the Southeast Asian archipelago with its 1,600-kilometre-wide rain and wind band, approached from the Pacific while the Philippines was still dealing with the devastation wrought by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which left at least 224 people dead in central island provinces on Tuesday before pummelling Vietnam, where at least five were killed. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared a state of emergency due to the extensive devastation caused by Kalmaegi and the expected calamity from Fung-wong, which is called Uwan in the Philippines. Fung-wong, with winds of up to 185 kph and gusts of

The country had witnessed over 200 deaths due to Typhoon Kalmaegi last week before heading into Vietnam, where five deaths were reported

Typhoon Kalmaegi brought fierce winds and torrential rains to Vietnam on Friday, killing at least five people, flattening homes, blowing off roofs and uprooting trees. In the Philippines, where the storm left at least 204 dead earlier in the week, survivors wept over the coffins of their loved ones and braced for another typhoon. As the storm moved on, recovery work began in battered towns and villages in both countries. Across central Vietnamese provinces, people cleared debris and repaired roofs on their homes. Jimmy Abatayo, who lost his wife and nine close relatives after the typhoon unleashed flooding in the central Philippine province of Cebu, was overwhelmed with sorrow and guilt as he ran his palm over his wife's casket. I was able to swim. I told my family to swim, you will be saved, just swim, be brave and keep swimming, said Abatayo, 53, pausing and then breaking into tears. They did not hear what I said because I would never see them again. Mourning the dead in the ...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a state of emergency on Thursday after Typhoon Kalmaegi left at least 241 people dead and missing in central provinces in the deadliest natural disaster to hit the country this year. Kalmaegi left at least 114 people dead, mostly from drowning in flash floods, and 127 missing, many in the hard-hit central province of Cebu, before the tropical cyclone blew out of the archipelago on Wednesday into the South China Sea. The typhoon's onslaught, which affected nearly 2 million people, displaced more than 560,000 villagers, including nearly 450,000 who were evacuated to emergency shelters. Marcos's emergency declaration, made during a meeting with disaster-response officials to assess the typhoon's aftermath, would allow the government to disburse emergency funds faster and prevent food hoarding and overpricing.

Typhoon Kalmaegi has left at least 66 people dead with 26 others missing in the central Philippines, many in widespread flooding that trapped people on their roofs and swept away scores of cars in a hard-hit province still recovering from a deadly earthquake, officials said on Wednesday. Among the dead were six people who were killed in a separate incident when a Philippine air force helicopter crashed in the southern province of Agusan del Sur on Tuesday while en route to help provide humanitarian help to provinces battered by Kalmaegi, the military said without providing other details, including what could have caused the crash. Kalmaegi blew away from western Palawan province into the South China Sea before noon on Wednesday with sustained winds of up to 130 kph (81 mph) and gusts of up to 180 kph (112 mph), according to forecasters. Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defence, and provincial officials said most of the deaths were reported

A fast-moving typhoon barrelled across central Philippines on Monday after slamming ashore overnight from the Pacific, leaving at least one person dead, causing flooding and power outages, and displacing tens of thousands of people, officials said. Typhoon Kalmaegi was blowing over the city of Sagay in central Negros Occidental province mid-morning with sustained winds of up to 150 kph and gusts up to 185 kph after making landfall around midnight in the town of Silago town in the eastern province of Southern Leyte. Kalmaegi, the 20th tropical cyclone to batter the Philippines this year, was moving northwestward at 25 kph and was forecast to start shifting away from the western section of the archipelago into the South China Sea later Tuesday. An elderly villager drowned in floodwaters in Southern Leyte, where a provincewide power outage was also reported, officials said in an initial report without providing other details. Ahead of the typhoon's landfall, disaster-response official

Philippine officials ordered tens of thousands of people to evacuate to safer grounds and prohibited fishermen from venturing out to sea in an east-central region Monday as a typhoon approached from the Pacific. Authorities warned of torrential rains and potentially deadly storm surges of up to 3 metres (nearly 10 feet). Typhoon Kalmaegi was last spotted about 235 kilometres (146 miles) east of the town of Guiuan in Eastern Samar province, with sustained winds of up to 120 kilometres (74 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 150 kph (93 mph), and was forecast to slam into shore later Monday. It was expected to blow westward overnight and on Tuesday and batter central island provinces, including Cebu, which is still recovering from a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit on Sept. 30 and left at least 79 dead and displaced thousands of people after their houses collapsed or were severely damaged. Kalmaegi, locally named Tino, was forecast to further strengthen over the Philippine Sea before

Canada and the Philippines, both staunch critics of China's increasingly coercive actions in the disputed South China Sea, were to sign a key defence agreement on Sunday on joint readiness drills and expand security alliances to deter aggression, Philippine officials said. Canada and other Western nations have been bolstering their military presence in the Indo-Pacific to help promote the rule of law and expand trade and investment in the region. The moves dovetail with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s efforts to build defence ties with other countries to help his country's underfunded military face a militarily superior China in the disputed waters. There was no immediate comment from China, which has accused the Philippines of being a troublemaker and a saboteur of regional stability over joint patrols and combat drills with the United States and other countries in the South China Sea. Beijing claims the waterway, a major trade route, virtually in its entirety despite a 2016 ...

A tropical storm lashed the northern and central Philippines over the weekend, killing seven people after forcing more than 22,000 people to evacuate from flood- and landslide-prone villages. Tropical Storm Fengshen blew away from the main northern Philippine region of Luzon into the South China Sea late on Sunday. It currently has sustained winds of up to 65 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 80 kilometres per hour, government forecasters said. The government's disaster-mitigation agency said seven deaths were reported. Nearly 14,000 people who evacuated remained displaced from their homes by Monday, the agency said. One person drowned on Saturday in Roxas City in the central province of Capiz, where high tide worsened flooding in many villages, officials said. Five people, including two children, died while they were sleeping when their hut was hit early Sunday by a huge palm tree that they had burned before to try to topple it for safety reasons in Pitogo town in the eastern

The Philippines is banking on visa-free travel and new direct flights from India to boost arrivals and deepen tourism links across South-East Asia

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The Philippines is pitching to become a leading tourist destination in South-East Asia for Indians, with initiatives like visa-free travel and direct flights, a senior Philippine official has said. In a significant step towards enhancing regional connectivity between India and the Philippines, Air India's direct flights from Delhi to Manila commenced operations from October 1, the official said. The Philippines launched visa-free travel for Indians in June, allowing for a 14-day stay for tourism. "Together with our visa-free regime for Indian tourists and resumption of direct flights between India and the Philippines after 10 years, we are ready to welcome you," Philippines Ambassador to India Josel F Ignacio said. This ease of travel with direct flight means that you do not lose a day. This will be an incentive for more Indians to travel to the Philippines," the senior diplomat told reporters. We know that for Indians with rising incomes, travel decisions are moderated by two ...

A Chinese coast guard ship used a powerful water cannon on Sunday then rammed and slightly damaged an anchored Philippine government vessel off an island inhabited by Filipinos in the disputed South China Sea, said the Philippine coast guard. There were no injuries among Filipino crewmen of the BRP Datu Pagbuaya, part of the fisheries fleet that provides support to Filipino fishermen. The Chinese coast guard targeted Pagbuaya off the Philippines-occupied Thitu island in the latest flare-up of the long-simmering territorial disputes involving Manila, Beijing and four other governments. China did not immediately issue any reaction but has repeatedly restated its sovereignty and control over virtually the entire South China Sea, a major trade route, despite a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated its historic claims. That ruling has been rejected by China but supported by the United States and its Western and Asian allies. Pagbuaya and two other Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic ...

Two powerful offshore earthquakes struck the same region in the southern Philippines hours apart on Friday. The first one, a 7.4 magnitude quake in the morning, killed at least five people, set off landslides, damaged hospitals and schools and prompted evacuations of coastal areas nearby because of a tsunami warning, which was later lifted. The second one had a preliminary 6.9 magnitude. Philippine Institute of Seismology and Volcanology chief Teresito Bacolcol said that Friday night's earthquake that jolted Manay town in Davao Oriental province was caused by movement in the same fault line, the Philippine Trench, at a depth of 10 kilometres (6 miles). It wasn't immediately clear if it was a separate earthquake or an aftershock of the 7.4 magnitude quake. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., facing his latest natural disaster after a recent deadly quake and back-to-back storms, said the potential damage was being assessed, and rescue teams and relief operations were being prepared and .

Matmo regained strength on Saturday morning, becoming a typhoon again as it left the Philippines and moved toward southern China's Hainan province, after it had earlier weakened into a storm. The typhoon had sustained wind speeds of 118 kph on Saturday, according to China's National Meteorological Centre. It is expected to strengthen further before it makes landfall on Sunday in Guangdong and Hainan provinces. Flights from Haikou, the capital of Hainan, will be cancelled starting Saturday night at 11 pm, according to the official China National Radio. The city also said classes will be cancelled and public transport and businesses will be shut on Saturday. Some train routes in Hainan province were cancelled Saturday and service will be suspended again on Sunday. China's national weather observatory issued an orange alert warning for the storm on Saturday. Matmo on Friday passed through the Philippines, where thousands of people were evacuated but no immediate casualties were report

A typhoon blew into the northern Philippines on Friday, complicating the country's disaster response to a deadly earthquake in a central province and two other recent storms. Typhoon Matmo blew into Dinapigue town in Isabela province from the Pacific with sustained winds up to 130 kph and was to blow northwestward over a vast agricultural valley and mountain provinces, where residents in some flood- and landslide-prone villages were evacuating. Schools suspended classes, and cargo and fishing vessels were prohibited from entering the rough seas along the path of the typhoon. It was expected to blow into the South China Sea on Saturday on a course toward southern China, Philippine forecasters said. Hong Kong's observatory said Matmo would pass by the territory on an expected path toward Hainan Island and the mainland's Guangdong province over the weekend. Matmo, locally known as Paolo, was the 16th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year. The Southeast Asian archipelago ..

Rescuers used backhoes and sniffer dogs to look for survivors in collapsed houses and other damaged buildings in the central Philippines after an earthquake killed at least 72 people and injured more than 200 others. The death toll was expected to rise from the 6.9 magnitude quake that hit about 10 pm Tuesday and trapped an unspecified number of residents in the hard-hit city of Bogo and outlying rural towns in Cebu province. Sporadic rain and damaged bridges and roads have hampered the race to save lives. A dangerous quake On Wednesday night, rescuers in orange and yellow hard hats used spotlights, a backhoe and bare hands to sift through the rubble of concrete slabs, broken wood and twisted iron bars for hours in a collapsed building in Bogo city. No survivor was found. The earthquake occurred at a dangerously shallow depth of 5 kilometres and was centred about 19 kilometres northeast of Bogo, a coastal city of about 90,000 people in Cebu province where officials reported about