Philippines

MANILA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- At least 30 miners were killed and 13 others went missing in a landslide in the northern Philippines, a high-ranking military official said on Sunday.

Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Northern Luzon Command, said a total of 43 miners were trapped when Typhoon Mangkhut smashed the Philippines early on Saturday. Rescuers are still trying to search for the missing miners who are trapped inside a tunnel in Itogon, a town in Benguet province.

Manila, Sep 8 (AFP) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday blamed US President Donald Trump after inflation hit a nine-year high in the Philippines, hurting the image of the populist leader.

It was an unexpected claim from the fiery Duterte, a one-time fierce critic of the United States but who has since embraced Trump after the business tycoon was elected in November, 2016.

When questioned by reporters about the 6.4 per cent inflation in August, a nine-year high that exceeded most analysts' forecasts, Duterte blamed Trump's economic policies.

By Maecy Alviar

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines; 18 Aug 2018; AA: President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out Friday at the United States after one of its top defense officials cautioned the Philippines against buying military equipment from Russia.

He slammed Washington for blocking the Philippine military’s modernization and only giving Manila used and refurbished military equipment, including rusted choppers from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that crashed and killed Filipino soldiers.

By Mahmut Atanur  

COTABATO CITY, Philippines; 29 July 2018; AA: The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) held a meeting Sunday to evaluate the recent approval of a law on comprehensive autonomy for Moro Muslims. 

More than a hundred thousand Moro Muslims gathered in Darapanan Camp in Cotabato City to discuss the Bangsamoro Organic Law approved by President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday. 

26 July 2018; AFP; 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 the 1970s.

AFP; Manila, Jun 3 : President Rodrigo Duterte has told a United Nations rights expert to "go to hell" over criticism of the Philippine leader for threatening the country's top judge.

Duterte's latest profanity-laced diatribe came after Diego Garcia-Sayan, the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, said the president's statements against former chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno were a "vicious attack" on the judiciary.