Has Philippine Senate turned anti-Duterte? Lawmakers ‘caught flat-footed’ over new head

By Raissa Robles Allies of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte lost their grip in the Senate on Monday after 15 lawmakers backed a leadership change that could alter the balance of power over corruption probes and Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s scuttled impeachment trial. The process took just 24 minutes – from a motion to declare the […]

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Was Philippine police chief sacked for rejecting US$140 million ‘overpriced’ gun deal?

By Raissa Robles A controversy over an alleged overpriced firearms deal has intensified in the Philippines, with insiders claiming that national police chief Nicolas Torre III was removed from his post for rejecting a proposed procurement of 80,000 assault rifles – a transaction some believe was padded by billions of pesos. While officials framed Torre’s […]

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Philippine political dynasties under fire from EU watchers amid calls for electoral reform

By Sam Beltran The stranglehold of political dynasties on Philippine democracy risks deepening public disillusionment and limiting political pluralism, the European Union’s election mission has warned, as it called for sweeping reforms to the country’s “outdated” election code and party-list system. In its final report released on Thursday, the EU Election Observation Mission said political […]

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‘A scrap of paper’: Philippine VP Duterte wants impeachment complaint dismissed

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte has described the impeachment complaint against her as “nothing more than a scrap of paper” in her formal response to the Senate, saying the case was baseless and should be dismissed for being unconstitutional. The impeachment, widely seen as a test of political alliances, comes amid an acrimonious falling out […]

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Philippines’ Sara Duterte warns against Marcos’ US pivot, ‘leaning’ on foreign powers

By Raissa Robles The Philippines’ Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has called on the country to steer away from its “unbalanced” foreign policy in an implicit criticism of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, as she offered her clearest indication yet of where she stands on China. In a speech delivered to a group of Filipinos at the Parliament […]

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Top Philippine senator to seek dismissal of Duterte impeachment case

MANILA: A top Philippine senator has drafted a resolution seeking to dismiss an impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, his office said on Wednesday, which could boost her chances of political survival after an acrimonious fallout with the president. The lower house in February impeached Duterte, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, on […]

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Floods, flights cancelled as Typhoon Gaemi dumps heavy rain on Manila

Heavy rain from Typhoon Gaemi has flooded the Philippine capital Manila and nearby cities, forcing authorities to shut schools, offices and cancel flights on Wednesday and declare a state of calamity in a region that is home to 13 million people. The storm, which is strengthening as it gusts towards Taiwan, did not make landfall […]

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