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Raissa Robles
Raissa Robles
Raissa Robles has written for the SCMP since 1996. A freelance journalist specialising in politics, international relations, business and Muslim rebellion, she has contributed to Reuters, the Economist Intelligence Unit, Daily Mail, Times of London, Radio Netherlands and Asiaweek. She runs the award-winning investigative and opinion blog, raissarobles.com. Her book, Marcos Martial Law: Never Again, a brief history of the dictatorship won the 2017 National Book Awards for Non-Fiction. Her Twitter handle is @raissawriter.

Amid unclear guidelines on the protection of natural attractions in the country, activists fear more developers could gain approval to access protected sites.

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The high seas pocket in the centre of the South China Sea would be good for setting up a marine protected area but could be difficult due to territorial claims.

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Popular Filipino actress Mariel Padilla has whipped up a storm of criticism with an Instagram photo appearing to show her receiving a controversial skin-whitening intravenous therapy inside her senator-husband’s office.

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The ex-president’s call for Mindanao’s independence could reignite internal ‘hatreds’ on an island with long-running communist and Islamist insurgencies.

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Apollo Quiboloy, 73, heads a sect in Davao City where it is alleged he repeatedly assaulted young women. He has close ties to Rodrigo Duterte and is on the FBI’s wanted list.

Many Christians identify with the idea of ‘Israel being the promised land’, but economic reasons are also behind their support for the country, observers say.

The policy has raised ‘activity and presence’ of military exercises from the US, India, Germany and even Russia, in the South and East China seas, stirring up a ‘South China Sea conflict vortex’.

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While military officers hope the move will bring ‘lasting peace’, Duterte supporters describe Marcos Jnr’s surprise bid to resume talks as ‘stupid’ and ‘unpatriotic’.

Philippine politicians are questioning whether President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and Vice-President Sara Duterte are united on Manila’s approach towards China.

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China says the Philippines reneged on its promise to remove the BRP Sierra Madre from Second Thomas Shoal. But a former defence chief for Manila says no such agreement ever existed.

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Public pressure and the Chinese Coast Guard’s actions against Philippine vessels and fishermen have prompted Philippine senators to take a firmer stance.

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More than 2,700 people were rescued, and computer data and safety box vaults seized, in a police raid on Xinchuang Network Technology, Inc in late June.

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Supporters of the US$8.9 billion Maharlika Investment Fund say it will attract the foreign investors needed to pump-prime one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies.

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Senior Chinese officials are likely to be ‘unhappy’ and ‘disappointed’ over Marcos Jnr’s moves to forge closer military ties with the US without regard for China’s sensitivities.

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The Balikatan war drills feature several firsts, including precise combat scenarios, cyber defence exercise and ‘littoral live-fire’ activities in a show of ‘joint and equal partnership’ between the military allies.

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With part of the US-China rivalry playing out in the South China Sea, conflict could escalate if littoral states like the Philippines take sides, observers note.

Such attacks are ‘nothing new’, analysts say, citing 2009 massacre of 58 victims ahead of local elections, Marcos Snr’s rise to power on back of political violence.