The Philippines delayed Friday the start of the school year by another six weeks to October as the country battles surging coronavirus infections and prepares to turn classrooms into quarantine facilities.Schools across the archipelago have been shut since mid-March when President Rodrigo Duterte's government imposed a months-long lockdown in a bid to slow the fast-spreading contagion.The academic year usually starts in June but was pushed back to 24 August.It is now scheduled to begin o

On 3 August, President Duterte issued a directive disallowing the Philippines from joining naval/maritime exercises and drills of other countries like the United States (US) in the South China Sea (SCS) to reduce tensions in the disputed waters.

In his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 27 July, President Rodrigo Duterte stated that, “Within ASEAN and beyond, the Philippines will continue to work with partners to address global perils and ramp up cooperation to secure for our peoples, greater peace, progress, and prosperity. The Filipino nation claims its rightful place in the community of sovereign states.

On 11 March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the COVID-19 virus outbreak as a pandemic due to the exponential increase in the number of cases in more than 100 countries. Then on 16 March, President Duterte placed the entire Philippines under a “State of Calamity” amid the threats posed by COVID-19.

In the Southeast Asian region, the Philippines is one of the countries that has been affected the most by the COVID-19 pandemic. The country is estimated to lose between three percent and four percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) this year. In the first quarter of 2020, its GDP shrank by two-tenths of one percent for the first time in two decades according to Secretary Sonny Dominguez of the Department of Finance (DOF).

The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, which triggered a global pandemic at a confounding pace has affected the whole world.

Police began closing off access to the Philippines' sprawling and densely populated capital Manila on Sunday, imposing a quarantine that officials hope will curb the nation's rising number of coronavirus cases.Officers armed with rifles blocked off main roads into the city of some 12 million as domestic flights to and from Manila were halted early Sunday for a month-long isolation of the capital.Mass gatherings and school at all levels have also been called off, but delays and excep

The Philippines told the US on Tuesday it was quitting a pact key to their historical military alliance, triggering a six-month countdown to the deal's termination. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered his cabinet to give notice to quit the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) after voicing anger over Washington cancelling the visa of the official who led his internationally condemned drug war.The move also follows Duterte's repeated, unfulfilled threats to shrink or eve

Philippine government lawyers moved Monday to strip the nation's biggest media group of its operating franchise in what campaigners branded a fresh attack on press freedom under President Rodrigo Duterte.Duterte has repeatedly pledged he would stop the broadcast operations of ABS-CBN, which drew his anger during his rise to power in the 2016 presidential election campaign.The solicitor general's petition filed with the nation's top court alleges ABS-CBN violated provisions of i

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened a government takeover of the capital's water services unless its two private utilities accept a new contract, his spokesman said Tuesday, an ultimatum experts warned could spook investors.Duterte's government will offer a deal to replace the one first crafted in the 1990s when Manila's troubled water system was privatised and which the president calls a "colossal rip-off", his spokesman Salvador Panelo said."Sho