Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he was uncertain if he’s still physically fit and signalled a readiness to step down if he has any serious illness such as cancer.“I don’t know where I am now physically but I have to wait for the results” of the tests, the 73-year-old leader told graduates of the Philippine Military Academy on Thursday, acknowledging he had gone to a hospital for digestive tract tests, which his aides have denied.“But I would tell you that - if it’s cancer, it’s canc

As the Philippines heads towards next year’s congressional and local elections, the assassinations of public officials may be on the rise again. Alexander Buquing, mayor of Bangar in La Union province was killed by unknown gunmen on 1 October on his way home. His driver and a police officer were also killed while his wife – also his vice mayor – was injured.Political killings have always occurred in the Philippines. A spate of shootings often precedes elections.

After two years since his landslide presidential victory, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte could finally be facing his biggest challenge yet. No, it is not his controversial war on drugs which Human Rights Watch says has claimed more than 12,000 lives. Nor is it his abysmal human rights track record.At the moment, the biggest concern for many ordinary Filipinos is the economy – a concern most likely shared by Duterte as well.

Social media is big in the Philippines. According to United Kingdom (UK)-based consultancy We Are Social’s Digital 2018 report (which compiles data from various third-party sources), the Philippines topped the world for the third year in a row in terms of social media usage as the average Filipino spends about four hours a day on social media.

Just when its relationship with China seems to have gone sour, the Philippine government has announced that new deals with Beijing are in the works. Ever since the Philippines elected Rodrigo Duterte into power in 2016, the country has enjoyed warmer relations with China. However, last week, Duterte lashed out twice at his nation’s largest trading partner, urging China to “rethink” and to “temper its behaviour” in the disputed South China Sea.

Last week, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte once again made headlines after claiming that he is willing to quit if the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos succeeds in becoming vice president and his constitutional successor.According to Duterte’s spokesperson, Harry Roque, the president has expressed a “real, genuine wish to step down” if a qualified leader like Ferdinand Marcos Jr was able to replace him. This is not the first time Duterte has spoken about quitting.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte could resign to make way for the son of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos if a legal challenge to the 2016 vice presidential election is upheld.Duterte, 73, who has often raised the possibility of stepping down, thinks Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

This month marks the third year of Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency. His presidency has been controversial to say the least, from being marred with criticisms from international institutions for his war on drugs to his various public outbursts. Most recently, the Filipino president called God “stupid” and vowed to resign if anyone could prove that God existed.His penchant for outrageous headlines however has stolen the spotlight from his economic reforms, dubbed “DuterteNomics”.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he has signed a law which grants expanded autonomy for the mainly Catholic nation's Muslim south, a key step to ending one of Asia's longest and deadliest conflicts.The measure has for years been a crucial missing element to a languishing peace pact with the country's largest Islamic rebel group which, along with other guerrillas, has waged a rebellion in the southern Philippines that has claimed about 150,000 lives since th

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte pledged on Monday to press ahead with a war on drugs that has already killed thousands, and castigated critics of his signature initiative.Duterte opened his annual State of the Nation Address with a defence of the narcotics crackdown that is now in its third year and remains largely supported in the Philippines despite fierce international censure."Let me begin by putting it bluntly: the war against illegal drugs is far from over," he told hundr