Latest Philippines News

An all-Filipino crew is set to make history in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race

Dec. 24, 2024 02:20 AM EST

SYDNEY (AP) — There have been plenty of “firsts” in the history of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race which was first held in 1945. An all-Filipino crew of 15 sailors will make it another when the annual ocean classic begins in Sydney on Thursday. With veteran sailor Ernesto...

China says Philippine plan to deploy midrange missiles would be 'extremely irresponsible'

Dec. 23, 2024 08:01 AM EST

BEIJING (AP) — China said a plan by the Philippines to deploy midrange missiles would be a provocative move that stokes regional tensions. The Philippines top army official told reporters in Manila earlier on Monday that the military plans to acquire a midrange system to defend the...

Filipina who won a last-minute reprieve from an Indonesian firing squad seeks clemency

Dec. 18, 2024 01:48 AM EST

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Filipino woman who spent years on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking, and who was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, said Wednesday she's happy to be back in the Philippines but is asking its president to set her free. Mary Jane Veloso...

Filipina who won a last-minute reprieve from an Indonesian firing squad returns home

Dec. 17, 2024 22:55 PM EST

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A Filipina woman who had been on death row in Indonesia, and who was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, arrived home early Wednesday after longstanding requests from her home country. Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso had spent almost 15 years in prison for...

Filipino woman on Indonesia death row recalls a stunning last minute reprieve and 'miracle' transfer

Dec. 14, 2024 13:14 PM EST

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Filipino death row inmate Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso knelt to pray when officers came to take her to an execution site in May 2015, just a few feet away from her isolation cell on an Indonesian prison island, where a 13-member firing squad was waiting. ...

Hearings are done: Now the wait begins for verdict on closely-watched climate case at UN’s top court

Dec. 13, 2024 13:25 PM EST

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A lawyer for a small South Pacific island nation told the world’s highest court to heed her warning. “Tuvalu will not go quietly into the rising sea,” Phillipa Webb said, hoping her ominous words this week would make a mark as two weeks of...

Philippine vice president skips hearing into threats she made against the president

Dec. 11, 2024 04:18 AM EST

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine vice president on Wednesday skipped the first hearing into threats she made against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., saying she did not believe the investigation will be fair. Vice President Sara Duterte was subpoenaed to appear before the...

Mass evacuation of Philippine villages underway after a brief but major volcanic eruption

Dec. 10, 2024 00:29 AM EST

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — About 87,000 people were being evacuated in a central Philippine region Tuesday a day after a volcano briefly erupted with a towering ash plume and superhot streams of gas and debris hurtling down its western slopes. The latest eruption of Mount Kanlaon...

Philippine volcano eruption sends villagers fleeing for safety as homes are blanketed in ash

Dec. 09, 2024 19:42 PM EST

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A plume of hot ash and gases up to 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) high forced residents to seek shelter after a volcano in the Philippines erupted on Monday. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the latest explosion of Mount Kanlaon, on central...

Indonesia agrees to repatriate Filipino woman who spent years on death row over drug trafficking

Dec. 06, 2024 06:05 AM EST

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia and the Philippines signed a deal on Friday to send home a Filipino death-row drug convict who was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, as the new administration of President Prabowo Subianto seeks to shore up diplomatic ties with neighboring countries. ...