Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, the Philippines was perceived as the next Asian Tiger economy and one of the most robust and dynamic economies in ASEAN and the wider East Asian region. Based on the World Bank's (WB) data and statistics, the country's average annual growth rate increased from 4.5 percent between 2000-2009 to 6.4 percent between 2010-2019.

The Philippine government on Thursday defended a controversial ban on unvaccinated people using public transport in the capital Manila where Omicron is fuelling a record surge in cases.The rule, announced by the Department of Transportation this week and expected to take effect Monday, comes after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to arrest people not vaccinated against COVID-19 who refused to stay at home.Passengers will have to show proof of vaccination before boarding public buses, jeep

The Philippine government has banned unvaccinated residents of the capital Manila and surrounding districts from public transport amid a new surge of COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant.In an order published on Wednesday, the country’s transport secretary, Arthur Tugade, said the “no vaccination, no ride” policy covers all domestic public transport to, from and within Metro Manila.Operators of public transport, including land, air and sea, “shall allow access or issue tickets only to fu

On 1 January 2022, the world's largest trade deal, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), came into force. RCEP is a trade agreement involving the 10- member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their largest free trade agreement (FTA) partners, namely China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday ordered the arrest of unvaccinated people who violate stay-at-home orders aimed at curbing "galloping" coronavirus infections driven by the Omicron variant.The government tightened restrictions in Manila and several provinces and cities this week.

The Philippines will expand coronavirus restrictions in Manila from Wednesday to include more than 11 million people living near the capital as cases surge, the government said.Daily infections have spiked to a two-month high in January and the health department warned of higher caseloads in the coming days following the detection of local cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant.The provinces of Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal surrounding Manila have been placed under the third-highest alert

The South China Sea (SCS), one of the most in-demand waterways in the world, is the object of contention of several claimant states with overlapping territorial and maritime sovereignty and sovereign rights claims over the disputed waters. The dispute is still unresolved today and can be dated back to the 1950s.The six-primary claimant states of the contested waters of the SCS are China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

When Filipina Hidelyn Diaz won a Gold Medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – which ended the Philippines’ 97-year Olympic gold medal drought – there was an outburst of exultation, joy, and national pride in the Philippines and among Filipinos all over the world.

The death toll from one of the most destructive typhoons to hit the Philippines in recent years rose to 388 on Monday, the government said, as disease outbreaks threatened some of the stricken areas.Typhoon Rai struck the south and centre of the Asian nation on 16 and 17 December, toppling power lines and trees and unleashing deadly floods that also left hundreds of thousands homeless.The civil defence office in Manila raised the death toll from Rai to 388 with 60 others missing and hundreds

Father Ricardo Virtudazo stands in a pool of water in his typhoon-hit church in the southern Philippines, delivering Christmas Day Mass to dozens of devotees whose wishes this year were for new roofs, food and fine weather.More than a week after Super Typhoon Rai cut through the archipelago, killing nearly 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, survivors clung to family and faith after their homes - and planned festivities - were wiped out.“What’s important is all of us are sa