https://www.scmp.com/rss/328853/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has dismissed the government’s most recent amnesty proposal as “ridiculous”, with observers saying there is little chance of ending the world’s longest running insurgency unless its root causes are addressed. Earlier this month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr ordered an amnesty programme for the armed revolutionaries that would allow them to avoid prosecution for any crimes carried out as part of the insurgency. A previous amnesty programme offered in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3259586/ridiculous-why-do-philippine-communist-rebels-keep-rejecting-marcos-jnrs-amnesty-offers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3259586/ridiculous-why-do-philippine-communist-rebels-keep-rejecting-marcos-jnrs-amnesty-offers?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Apr 2024 07:30:18 +0000 Michael Beltran Michael Beltran Philippine insurgents have again clashed with soldiers in remote parts of the country amid conflicting claims by the government about a lull in hostilities. President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr declared in December that there were “no more active” bases of the New People’s Army (NPA) in the country. Since the start of the year, however, the Maoist insurgents had engaged in gunfights with government forces at least 10 times in Rizal province, and the cities of Batangas, Negros Occidental, Bohol and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3252929/philippine-maoist-rebels-dismiss-manilas-goal-ending-insurgency-2025-say-they-are-ready-keep?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3252929/philippine-maoist-rebels-dismiss-manilas-goal-ending-insurgency-2025-say-they-are-ready-keep?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Feb 2024 04:00:14 +0000 The Philippine senate’s move to discuss easing constitutional limits on foreign investment has raised concerns it would come at the cost of local industries, with critics highlighting similar efforts by neighbouring economies in the past did not lead to inclusive growth. The Resolution of Both Houses (RBH 6) is focused on removing the 40 per cent restriction on foreign ownership of public utilities, educational institutions and the advertising industry. The rules were embedded in the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3251574/will-foreign-investment-bring-growth-philippines-constitutional-changes-raise-concerns-over-local?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3251574/will-foreign-investment-bring-growth-philippines-constitutional-changes-raise-concerns-over-local?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Feb 2024 10:50:12 +0000 Indigenous communities in the Ilocos Norte province of the Philippines are opposing an irrigation project on the grounds that they have not been properly consulted on environmental risks, with the row leading to allegations that authorities have other hidden agendas behind the development. The Cabacanan Small Reservoir Irrigation Project (CSRIP), headed by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), is set to be built on ancestral tribal lands. Any construction would require the approval of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3251014/philippine-indigenous-groups-question-true-purpose-dam-project-marcos-political-stronghold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3251014/philippine-indigenous-groups-question-true-purpose-dam-project-marcos-political-stronghold?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Feb 2024 11:05:58 +0000 Philippine trade officials have come under fire for allowing manufacturers to practice “shrinkflation”, a decision critics slammed as providing an illusion of cost stability while leaving low-income families worse off. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) last week approved requests by some manufacturers to reduce the size of household products and other items while keeping retail prices the same. The act, known as shrinkflation, has previously been rolled out to avoid price hikes which... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3249884/philippine-officials-criticised-allowing-shrinkflation-consumers-struggle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3249884/philippine-officials-criticised-allowing-shrinkflation-consumers-struggle?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Jan 2024 07:30:13 +0000 The family of Mary Jane Veloso – a Filipino woman on death row in Indonesia after her conviction for drug trafficking – pleaded with Indonesian President Joko Widodo for clemency during his visit on Wednesday to the presidential palace in Manila to meet his counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. On the day Veloso turned 39 years old, her parents Celia and Cesar, as well as her two sons Mark Daniel, 21, and Mark Darren, 16, travelled over five hours from Nueva Ecija province to submit a letter of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3248003/filipino-drug-convict-mary-jane-velosos-family-pleads-indonesia-leader-grant-her-gift-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3248003/filipino-drug-convict-mary-jane-velosos-family-pleads-indonesia-leader-grant-her-gift-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Jan 2024 03:00:18 +0000 More than 60 members of Filipino-Palestinian families remain housed inside the University of the Philippines (UP) after struggling to find shelter since their repatriation from war-torn Gaza. They will only be allowed to stay with the university – an arrangement brokered by NGOs – until December 21, before the holiday period. Beyond that, there are no prospects. Critics say authorities have been slow to respond to the plight of the families, with concern groups calling for such groups to be... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3244662/filipino-returnees-gaza-feel-abandoned-government-aid-dries-leaving-families-homeless?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3244662/filipino-returnees-gaza-feel-abandoned-government-aid-dries-leaving-families-homeless?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Dec 2023 00:30:10 +0000 Jeepney drivers in the Philippines launched a three-day strike on Monday against a looming December 31 deadline by the government that will force owners to replace aged vehicles with environmentally friendly models, in what is seen by the industry as authorities’ attempt to snuff out livelihoods. Under the government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernisation Program (PUVMP), drivers will need to replace jeepney units that are at least 15 years old with eco-friendly models to form cooperatives and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3242190/philippines-jeepney-drivers-strike-again-modernisation-deadline-looms-it-will-bury-us-debt?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3242190/philippines-jeepney-drivers-strike-again-modernisation-deadline-looms-it-will-bury-us-debt?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Nov 2023 10:00:52 +0000 Four days after the Philippine delegation to the United Nations abstained from a resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza, protesters staged a demonstration in front of the Israeli embassy in Manila. Renato Reyes Jnr of the activist group Bagong Alyanang Makabayan (Bayan) on Tuesday condemned the Philippine government for supporting “Israel’s occupation and genocide”. He called the abstention an “embarrassing display” of “neutrality in a time of genocide” by President Ferdinand Marcos... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3239850/israel-gaza-war-philippines-embarrassing-abstention-un-resolution-sparks-protest-near-israeli?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3239850/israel-gaza-war-philippines-embarrassing-abstention-un-resolution-sparks-protest-near-israeli?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Oct 2023 11:41:14 +0000 Cartoonist and illustrator Renan Ortiz is one of many Filipino artists to have picked up a pen, pencil or paintbrush in defence of journalist Maria Ressa, who was convicted of “cyber libel” in June and could face a prison term. Ortiz drew a cartoon of Ressa holding a “Defend Press Freedom” poster, and uploaded it to his Instagram account. The conviction of Ressa, the co-founder and chief executive of online news website Rappler, came ahead of the enactment of a much feared anti-terrorism bill in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3091224/artists-rally-against-philippine-anti-terrorism-bill-fears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3091224/artists-rally-against-philippine-anti-terrorism-bill-fears?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Jul 2020 23:45:08 +0000 The young Filipinos are making a lot of noise, sweating and surging as The Exsenadors belt out a protest song, and scream along to the lyrics “Kamatayan o kalayaan! Maghimagsik!”(Death or freedom! Rebellion!) at a concert north of Metro Manila. Organised by the Crazy Don’t Collective, February’s event in Baliuag, Bulacan province, featured dissident music from the Filipino underground punk rock scene, including a set by the band Bad Omen, and the crowd was on fire. The sound of rebellion and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3075713/punk-rock-music-protest-finds-new-voice-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3075713/punk-rock-music-protest-finds-new-voice-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Mar 2020 21:00:12 +0000 Manila can be a grim and gritty city. Since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte came to power in June 2016, the situation has worsened. The capital’s streets have been awash with the blood of victims of his controversial war on drugs, in which thousands of people have been killed. Social inequality has reached unprecedented levels in a city where high-rise condominium blocks flank squalid slums. Police have stepped up operations to levels unseen since the martial law years of the 1970s and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3050714/open-mic-open-door-manila-bar-welcomes-musicians-social?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3050714/open-mic-open-door-manila-bar-welcomes-musicians-social?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Feb 2020 01:30:16 +0000 The bell still tolls for veterans of a period of unrest that rocked the Philippines during the first three months of 1970. Known as the First Quarter Storm (FQS), the movement mainly consisted of students and other young people enraged at government subservience to foreign powers and the looming dictatorship of then-president Ferdinand Marcos. Two years later, Marcos would impose martial law that effectively remained in place until he was deposed in 1986 by massive demonstrations. The music... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3047573/revival-philippine-protest-songs-era-ferdinand-marcos?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3047573/revival-philippine-protest-songs-era-ferdinand-marcos?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Jan 2020 01:00:10 +0000 Philippine unionists have clashed with the police in a war of accusations ahead of Wednesday’s Labour Day protests in several cities, where some 100,000 demonstrators – half of whom will gather at the presidential palace in Manila – will march to demand an increase to the minimum wage, among other issues. The nation’s police chief, General Oscar Albayalde, warned on Monday that communist rebels could seize the opportunity to incite chaos and violence against the establishment. Guillermo Eleazar,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3008337/philippine-unionists-exchange-war-words-police-ahead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3008337/philippine-unionists-exchange-war-words-police-ahead?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Apr 2019 13:06:48 +0000 Thousands of Catholics and Christians of other denominations are preparing to attend a church-led interfaith protest in Manila’s commercial centre of Malate on Friday against Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Since coming to power in 2016, the populist leader has launched numerous attacks against the Roman Catholic Church and its representatives, who have been critical of his drugs war that has claimed at least 5,000 lives so far, according to official figures. In June, he called God... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2183527/thousands-filipinos-march-through-manila-over-president?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2183527/thousands-filipinos-march-through-manila-over-president?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Jan 2019 13:00:30 +0000 As Christmas arrives in the Philippines, thousands of guerilla fighters are gearing up for a different kind of celebration the day afterward: Mao Zedong’s birthday, and the 50th anniversary of a home-grown resistance group that was inspired by his ideology. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) – infamous for its jungle raids, assassination squads and fearsome leaders like Kumander Dante – was founded in 1968 in Mao’s honour, and has been engaged in a peoples’ revolution to overthrow the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/2179402/mao-more-ever-filipino-communists-half-century-struggle-against?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/2179402/mao-more-ever-filipino-communists-half-century-struggle-against?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Dec 2018 10:45:00 +0000 Rights activists in the Philippines are sounding the alarm after President Rodrigo Duterte decided to extend martial law in the country’s restive south. Duterte on Wednesday approved “in principle” army and police recommendations to prolong military rule in Mindanao, the second-largest island in the Philippines, despite the end of an Islamist insurgency in the city of Marawi that prompted its declaration in 2017. Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde insisted the move was not a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2177022/dutertes-martial-law-extension-renews-fears-authoritarianism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2177022/dutertes-martial-law-extension-renews-fears-authoritarianism?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Dec 2018 08:00:30 +0000 The emergence this year of a Chinese businessman within President Rodrigo Duterte’s inner circle has been a source of intrigue in the Philippines, where an opposition lawmaker has called for an investigation into the “nature and scope of his influence”. The entrepreneur in question is Michael Yang, the owner of shopping malls in Davao City, whose close ties to the Chinese community – and long, unexplained relationship with Duterte – appear to have landed him a post as an adviser inside... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2173948/does-dutertes-chinese-adviser-confirm-philippines-diplomatic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2173948/does-dutertes-chinese-adviser-confirm-philippines-diplomatic?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Nov 2018 00:00:15 +0000 The actions of a Philippine congressman who represents overseas workers, including those in Hong Kong, have fuelled questions on whether his interests lie with workers’ rights or serving recruitment agencies – putting his portfolio at home as well as his perception abroad at risk. Congressman Ancieto “John” Bertiz – from the Alliance for Community Transformation-Overseas Filipino Workers, which has had a seat in parliament since 2016 – first sparked public anger when a video of him at the Ninoy... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2168820/does-bertiz-serve-hong-kongs-filipino-workers-or-recruiters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2168820/does-bertiz-serve-hong-kongs-filipino-workers-or-recruiters?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Oct 2018 13:46:24 +0000 “A knee-jerk reaction of glee” from overseas Filipinos greeted the drop in the peso’s value, as workers figured the dollars they earned abroad would translate into greater spending power at home, according to Hong Kong-based NGO worker Aaron Ceradoy. But the euphoria was short lived, as rising prices in the Philippines negated any advantage and led to many migrants scrambling to make ends meet. Now, many Filipinos in Hong Kong are either “trying to add to their workload, borrow money or just... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/2167169/weak-peso-rising-prices-hong-kongs-filipino-workers-take-hit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/2167169/weak-peso-rising-prices-hong-kongs-filipino-workers-take-hit?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Oct 2018 02:02:59 +0000 It’s all over the news. There is a panic being engineered by the Philippines’ top officials. According to dire warnings from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte’s government could be overthrown any day in October. The “Red October” plot, which came to light late last month, will allegedly be executed by various opposition forces. If true, the claims suggest that in his short tenure as commander-in-chief, Duterte has managed to do what seemed impossible in the modern... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2166737/philippines-hunt-red-october-communist-plot-duterte-hoax?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2166737/philippines-hunt-red-october-communist-plot-duterte-hoax?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Oct 2018 02:00:00 +0000