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Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, known for his colourful language, has suggested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crush Gaza and turn the Hamas-controlled territory into the “world’s biggest cemetery”, after escalating attacks from both sides left more than 2,000 people dead. Israel relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip with hundreds of air strikes after Palestinian militants last Saturday rained rockets on the Jewish state and gunmen stormed its cities, killing hundreds and abducting dozens, including foreigners. Duterte told broadcaster SMNI News that if he were Netanyahu, he would eliminate Hamas by razing the sealed-off enclave to the ground. “I will crush...

Pact between Marcos, Duterte families shaped the vote Bongbong' Marcos didn't just win the presidential election in the Philippines this week. He won it by a two-to-one landslide, despite the fact that he is the extremely entitled son of a former president who stole at least ten billion dollars and a mother who spent the loot partly on the world's most extensive collection of designer shoes (3,000 pairs). Moreover, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, to give him his real name, has virtually no accomplishments other than that name. Yet his name and his inherited wealth, originally stolen from the parents of the...

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday people who have not taken COVID-19 shots will be arrested if they disobeyed stay-at-home orders as infections hit a three-month high. Duterte in an televised address to the nation said he was asking community leaders to look for unvaccinated people and make sure they were confined to their homes. "If he refuses, if he goes out his house and goes around the community, he can be restrained. If he refuses, the captain is empowered now to arrest recalcitrant persons," Duterte said.

Known for his violent crackdown on drug dealers and other unorthodox policy decisions that won him both admiration and hatred, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced Saturday that he would be retiring from politics after dropping his bid for the presidency. That Duterte is ending his political career so soon is ironic. Many western political analysts and high-handed scribes once condemned Duterte as a violent authoritarian who would shift the Philippines' political system closer to that of Russia's. However, that never happened. And now, Duterte, who is constitutionally forbidden from seeking another term as president, has decided not to run as...

As the debate on its effectiveness in treating coronavirus (COVID-19) continues, President Duterte has decided to leave the use of antiparasitic drug ivermectin to the discretion of doctors and patients. Duterte made the statement as the clinical studies on ivermectin as a cure for COVID-19 continue worldwide. In his pre-recorded public address aired Saturday morning, September 11, the President recognized that some sectors continue to claim that ivermectin works as a cure for COVID-19. However, he said no medical journal has been published to prove the claims. “The problem is it is not clear. Nobody has published in a journal–...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has agreed to be the ruling party's vice-presidential candidate, in next year’s elections, the PDP-Laban party said on Tuesday (Aug 24), laying the groundwork for the leader to stay in power beyond his term. The PDP-Laban party made the announcement ahead of a national assembly on Sept 8 where it is also expected to endorse Mr Duterte’s aide and incumbent senator Christopher "Bong" Go to be its presidential candidate in the 2022 polls. Mr Duterte is making "the sacrifice" and heeding "the clamour of the people," Mr Karlo Nograles, executive vice-president of the ruling PDP-Laban party,...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has retracted a decision to end a key defense pact with the United States, allowing large-scale combat exercises between U.S. and Philippine forces that at times have alarmed China to proceed. Duterte’s decision was announced Friday by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a joint news conference with visiting U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin in Manila. It was a step back from the Philippine leader’s stunning vow early in his term to distance himself from Washington as he tried to rebuild frayed ties with China over territorial rifts in the South China Sea. “The president decided to recall...

SNIP Rodrigo Duterte told a national address on Wednesday: "For those who do not want it, well, for all I care, you can die anytime." He also said he wants the police to restrict the movement of people who refuse coronavirus vaccines: "To those people who do not want to be vaccinated, I am telling you, don't go out of your house." "If you go out of your house, I will tell the police to return you to your home. You will be escorted back to your house because you are a walking spreader."

President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to jail people who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as the Philippines battles one of Asia’s worst outbreaks, with a cumulative total of more than 1.3 million cases and 23,000 deaths. “You choose, vaccine or I will have you jailed,” Duterte said in a televised address on Monday following reports of low turnouts at several vaccination sites in the capital Manila. Duterte’s remarks contradict those of his health officials, who have said that while people are being urged to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, it was voluntary. “Don’t get me wrong, there is a...

President Duterte gave anti-vaxxers two choices: get anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin or leave the country since they don’t want to join the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program. “Ito ‘yong ayaw magpabakuna. Kayong ayaw magpabakuna, ipabakuna ko ‘yong itong sa bakuna ng baboy, ‘yong Ivermectin. Iyon ang ibakuna ko sa kanila (These people who don’t want to get vaccinated. If you don’t want to get vaccinated, I will vaccinate you with the vaccine for pigs, the Ivermectin. That’s what I will put in you),” the President said in his taped public address on Monday night. The parasitic drug Ivermectin is being used experimentally...

MANILA—Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has rebuffed a call from China to withdraw vessels from disputed areas of the South China Sea and said he would not bow to pressure, even if it jeopardizes his friendship with Beijing. The Philippines has boosted its presence in contested areas of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), including Thitu island, near to Chinese military installation, in defiance of the months-long presence of hundreds of Chinese boats it believes are manned by militia. Duterte’s remarks in a televised address aired on Friday come as pressure builds on him to abandon his pursuit of close ties with...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned Filipinos not to follow his example and get the China-made Sinopharm vaccine which has not yet been approved by the country’s health regulator for use against the CCP virus. Duterte, who was able to get the Sinopharm jab via a compassionate use permit despite the drug not yet being approved, has since asked the Chinese embassy to return 1,000 unused doses that were donated by Beijing. Following criticism, Duterte told Filipinos, “Don’t follow my steps.” “It’s dangerous because there are no studies, it might not be good for the body. Just let me be the...

The Bangsamoro Sultanate of Lanao, headed by Sultan Edrieza Nasser Rimbang Al-Haj, a parliament member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), has recognized and confirmed the Maranao lineage of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. This confirmation comes after Rimbang Al-Haj made a series of consultations among the council of elders and sultan representatives from the Pat a Pangampong sa Ranao as well as the Igma and Taritib of the Maranaos. Rimbang Al-Haj said the announcement of the confirmation of Duterte’s Maranao blood lineage coincided with the President’s natal day celebration on March 27. The sultan’s wife is a distant relative of...

Delfin Lorenzana, Philippine defence chief, demanded China recall more than 200 fishing vessels, from a South China Sea reef it claims. Mr Lorenzana believes they are armed with militia. China has previously been accused of violating international law in sending its vessels to waters claimed by other Asia-Pacific countries. The Philippines' coast guard reported around 220 armed fishing vessels were moored at Whitsun Reef, which Manila calls Julian Felipe Reef, on March 7. Mr Lorenzana issued a statement condemning the presence of the boats in the Philippines-claimed portion of the South China Sea. He described the their presence as a...

The Philippine government expressed concern after spotting more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels it believed were crewed by militias at a reef claimed by both countries in the South China Sea, but it did not immediately lodge a protest. A government body overseeing the disputed region said late Saturday that about 220 Chinese vessels were seen moored at Whitsun Reef on March 7. It released pictures of the vessels lying side by side in one of the most hotly contested areas of the strategic waterway. The reef, which Manila calls Julian Felipe, is a boomerang-shaped and shallow coral region about...

MANILA -- The Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday he will prioritize COVID-19 vaccines developed by Russia or China, his geopolitical allies, instead of those made by western pharmaceutical companies which he accused of looking for profit amid the pandemic. "If the vaccine of Russia and China are equally good and effective just as any other vaccine by any country, I will buy (them) first," Rodrigo Duterte said in a televised Monday night speech, in which he offered his collaboration to Russian and Chinese companies that are developing a vaccine. The president explained that he prefers to work with China...

SINGAPORE — After more than four years in power, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is still struggling to show that his country has benefited from a closer alliance with China. In a dramatic shift in the Philippines’ foreign policy, Duterte declared in 2016 the country’s “separation” from the U.S. — a military ally — and announced closer ties with China. Among other things, the president also set aside his country’s territorial dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea, in exchange for billions of dollars that China pledged in infrastructure investments. But much of that promised investment has not materialized, with...

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to prioritize the Philippines when it develops a vaccine against the novel coronavirus. Duterte—who is fostering better ties with Beijing—disclosed this during his fifth State of the Nation Address. “Four days ago, I made a plea to President Xi Jinping that if they have the vaccine, can they allow us to be the one of the first or if it is needed, if we have to buy it that we will be granted credit so we can normalize as fast as possible,” the chief executive...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has recently suspended a decision that was described by analysts as one of the geopolitical shocks of the decade. In February, the President announced he would rip up the long-standing Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States, which operationalises the two countries' Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT), signed in 1951. The MDT is similar to Australia's ANZUS security pact with the US — also signed in 1951 — as an attack in the Pacific threatening either party's "territorial integrity, political independence, or security" will automatically trigger a consultation process between Manila and Washington. The cancellation of...

The Philippines has suspended its plan to terminate a key defense pact with the United States, Manila's top diplomat announced Tuesday, after President Rodrigo Duterte in early 2020 threatened to pull his country out of the bilateral agreement... In the letter, which was dated Monday, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs indicated that its decision in February to scrap the VFA was "hereby suspended" due to "political and other developments in the region," and that Manila had decided to hold off for six months on its planned withdrawal... "The abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement has been suspended upon the...