Philippines

Rodrigo Duterte is accused of being an ‘indirect co-perpetrator’ in the murders of dozens of alleged criminals.

Former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte has been charged with three counts of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which alleges that he played a role in the murders of at least 76 people during his so-called “war on drugs”.

The charges against the 80-year-old, who has been held in a detention facility in the Netherlands since March, are set out in a document that was published by the ICC on Monday.

They relate in part to the anti-drug crackdown Duterte led when he was president, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of alleged narcotics dealers and users.

The heavily redacted ICC charge sheet, which is dated from early July and is signed by the court’s deputy prosecutor, Mame Mandiaye Niang, sets out what prosecutors see as Duterte’s individual criminal responsibility for dozens of deaths that occurred between 2013 and 2018.

The first count dates to his time as mayor of Davao City, when he is alleged to have been an “indirect co-perpetrator” in 19 murders between 2013 and 2016.

The second and third ICC charges concern his years as president. The former relates to the murders of 14 so-called “high-value” targets in 2016 and 2017, while the latter refers to 43 murders committed during “clearance” operations against lower-level alleged criminals between 2016 and 2018.

The 76 murders were carried out by police as well as non-state actors, such as hitmen, according to the ICC document.

The publication of the charges came several weeks after a court delayed Duterte’s appearance scheduled for later this month at the ICC to hear the accusations against him.

The court must first consider whether the former president is fit to stand trial, following his lawyer Nicholas Kaufman’s suggestion that the case should be indefinitely postponed because of Duterte’s poor health.

Kaufman has said that Duterte is suffering “cognitive impairment in multiple domains”.

Duterte was arrested in the Philippines’ capital, Manila, on March 11, and was swiftly flown to the Netherlands, where he has been held in ICC custody. The 80-year-old insists his arrest was unlawful.

Duterte’s supporters in the Philippines allege that his detention is political and the result of his family’s falling out with the current president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

China plans to evacuate close to 400,00 people from southern Shenzhen province as the typhoon makes landfall in the northern Philippines.

China has begun preparing to evacuate 400,000 people from the city of Shenzhen ahead of Typhoon Ragasa, which has barreled through northern Philippines with a wind speed of 215km/h (134mph).

Super Typhoon Ragasa made landfall on Monday in Calayan province in the Philippines at 3pm (07:00 GMT), Philippine forecasters reported. More than 8,200 people were evacuated to safety in Cagayan, while 1,220 fled to emergency shelters in Apayao province.

Tropical cyclones with sustained winds of 215km/h (134mph) or higher in the western Pacific are labelled “super typhoons”.

The Philippines’ weather agency warned that “there is a high risk of life-threatening storm surge with peak heights exceeding 3 metres (nearly 10 feet) within the next 24 hours over the low-lying or exposed coastal localities” of the northern provinces of Cagayan, Batanes, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr suspended government work and schools in the capital and 29 provinces in the northern Luzon region.

Ragasa is the 14th weather disturbance to hit the Philippines this year, which comes as the country deals with anti-corruption protests linked to ghost flood-control projects.

The typhoon is forecast to move westwards and remain in the South China Sea until at least Wednesday while passing south of Taiwan and Hong Kong before hitting the Chinese mainland.

Land and sea warnings

Chinese authorities have activated flood control measures in southern provinces and warned of heavy rainfall beginning from Tuesday night.

In China’s Shenzhen, authorities said on Sunday night that they planned to move hundreds of thousands of people from coastal and low-lying areas before the typhoon reaches them.

Other cities in the Guangdong province announced the cancellation of classes, work and public transportation due to the heavy rainfall and strong winds.

Moreover, Taiwan has issued land and sea warnings, cancelled 146 domestic flights, and evacuated more than 900 people from mountainous southern and eastern areas.

Vietnam’s Defence Ministry ordered its forces to monitor the storm and prepare for possible landfall later this week.

Sept. 22 (UPI) — The Philippines was bracing for “catastrophic” damage Monday from a supertyphoon that came ashore in the far north of the country, packing winds of more than 140 mph., and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people.

The country’s weather bureau said typhoon Ragasa posed a “high risk of life-threatening storm surge” in excess of 10 feet with authorities warning of extensive damage to property and infrastructure from flooding and landslides, as well as the wind.

Ragasa came ashore in the remote Batanes or Babuyan islands, about 60 miles off the northern coast of Luzon, the main island of the Philippine archipelago, bringing down power lines in Abra and Cagayan pronvinces on the mainland.

In Manila and across large areas of the country, schools and government offices were shut to reduce the risks to human health and safety from the supertyphoon, which is the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane.

The impact in regions as far away as the Visayas and Mindanao, 800 miles to the south, was due to it boosting the effect of a potent southwest monsoon that had already brought weeks of flooding to the central and southern Philippines.

Taiwan was also impacted, with heavy rains prompting authorities to evacuate hundreds of residents in Hualien, a county on the eastern coast.

The typhoon was expected to track northwestwards, bypassing Taiwan, headed for southern China, where authorities in Guangdong Province were warning of a “catastrophic, large-scale disaster” in the coming days.

The typhoon is not expected to come ashore from the South China Sea until Wednesday, but residents have been advised of heavy rains and strong winds as early as Tuesday with the city of Shenzhen planning a massive operation to move 400,000 people out of harm’s way.

Train services in the province have already halted operations.

To the south in Hong Kong, authorities were warning residents of a “rapid deterioration” of the weather on Tuesday, although the Education Department was still weighing a decision on whether to close schools.

Hong Kong International Airport was preparing for a 36-hour period of full flight cancellations, the longest ever such suspension of civil aviation, due to go into effect at 6 p.m. local time on Tuesday through 6 a.m. Thursday.

Cathay Pacific, the territory’s main carrier, said it expected to cancel about 500 flights while Hongkong Airlines cancelled at least 93 through Thursday, according to the carrier’s website.

President Marcos said in July there were anomalies in 9,855 flood-control projects worth more than $9.5 bn.

Thousands of protesters have gathered in the Philippine capital, Manila, angered over a corruption scandal involving flood control projects that are believed to have cost billions of dollars.

With organisers hoping to draw one of the largest turnouts of anticorruption protests in the country on Sunday, police and troops were put on alert to prevent any possible outbreak of violence.

There has been deadly violence in another Southeast nation, Indonesia, recently, where protesters, infuriated by police violence, parliamentarians’ wages and soaring inflation, have been staging nationwide demonstrations.

Protesters in Manila waved Philippine flags and held a banner that read “No more, too much, jail them”, as they marched, demanding the prosecution of all those involved.

“I feel bad that we wallow in poverty and we lose our homes, our lives and our future while they rake in a big fortune from our taxes that pay for their luxury cars, foreign trips and bigger corporate transactions,” student activist Althea Trinidad told The Associated Press news agency.

“We want to shift to a system where people will no longer be abused.”

According to the AFP news agency, an estimated 13,000 people gathered in Manila’s Luneta Park by Sunday morning.

Anger has been mounting over the so-called ghost infrastructure projects since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr highlighted the scandal in July during his annual State of the Nation speech.

Marcos later established an independent commission to investigate what he referred to as anomalies in many of the 9,855 flood-control projects that were worth more than 545 billion pesos ($9.5bn).

Outrage from the public worsened after a wealthy couple, Sarah and Pacifico Discaya, who operated several construction companies, won flood control contracts that showed dozens of European and US luxury cars and SUVs they owned.

Marcos said on Monday that he did not blame people for protesting against the scandal “one bit” and called for the demonstrations to be peaceful. The president added that the army was on “red alert” as a precaution.

Reporting from Manila, Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo said the protest was being led by Christian churches of all denominations, but the Catholic Church has “historically” been able to “galvanise the Filipino people”.

“It’s not a coincidence that these protests are happening on September 21, which is the anniversary of the declaration of martial law by former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr and is taking place on the very highway where two people power revolutions took place,” Lo said.

Lo added that protesters want the president to institute “lasting reforms” that would “eradicate any opportunity for corruption at any level of government”.

Aly Villahermosa, a 23-year-old nursing student, told AFP that she had waded through floods in the storm-prone country.

“If there’s a budget for ghost projects, then why is there no budget for the health sector?” she said, adding that the theft of public funds was “truly shameful”.

Aerial video from the Philippines shows dozens of shanty homes burning in the Tondo area of Manila, where a fire displaced more than 1,100 families. Fire crews worked through Saturday night before declaring the blaze under control in the early hours of Sunday.

China’s plan to build a nature reserve in the Scarborough Shoal brings strong responses from the Philippines and US.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has expressed support for Manila’s opposition to Beijing’s plan to designate the contested Scarborough Shoal as a “nature reserve”, characterising the move as part of a broader Chinese strategy of coercion in the South China Sea.

“The US stands with our Philippine ally in rejecting China’s destabilising plans to establish a ‘national nature reserve’ at Scarborough Reef,” Rubio wrote on the X social media platform on Friday.

“This is yet another coercive attempt to advance China’s interests at the expense of its neighbours and regional stability,” Rubio said.

“… Claiming Scarborough Reef as a nature preserve is another example of Beijing using pressure tactics to push expansive maritime and territorial claims, disregarding the rights of neighbouring countries,” he added in a statement.

On Wednesday, China’s State Council revealed its intention to establish a nature reserve spanning 3,500 hectares (8,650 acres) on the disputed islet, describing the initiative as an “important guarantee for maintaining … diversity, stability and sustainability”.

While Scarborough Shoal lies 240km (150 miles) west of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon and is included in the country’s exclusive economic zone, it has been under Beijing’s control since 2012.

China’s nature reserve plans drew a string of strong responses from the Philippines, where the Department of Foreign Affairs promised on Thursday to lodge a “formal diplomatic protest against this illegitimate and unlawful action”.

According to the Philippine Star news outlet, Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said China’s planned “Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve” is “patently illegal”.

Ano cited violations of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the 2016 arbitral ruling in favour of Manila regarding China’s claims in the sea, and the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

“This move by the People’s Republic of China is less about protecting the environment and more about justifying its control over a maritime feature that is part of the territory of the Philippines and its waters lie within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines,” Ano was quoted in the newspaper.

“It is a clear pretext towards eventual occupation,” he said.

Leading Filipino business newspaper BusinessWorld included excerpts from analysts who said Beijing is likely testing Manila’s resolve in asserting its claim over the region.

“China will likely want to see what the response will be from the Philippines,” said Julio S. Amador III, chief executive officer at Manila-based geopolitical risk firm Amador Research Services.

“If it sees that there is no effective pushback, then there is a strong possibility that it will try to do the same over other features,” Amador said.

Last month, the Philippines, Australia and Canada held joint naval drills east of Scarborough Shoal to simulate aerial attacks and how to counter such threats.

China, for its part, has insisted it will defend the area.

China asserts sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea – a strategic maritime corridor through which more than $3 trillion in trade passes each year – despite competing territorial claims from the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Country steps up crackdown on online scammers, who lure victims using promises of romance to invest in fake cryptocurrency investments.

Nigeria has deported 102 foreign nationals, including 60 Chinese and 39 people from the Philippines, who were convicted of “cyber-terrorism and internet fraud”, according to the country’s anticorruption agency.

The announcement by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday comes as the country steps up a crackdown on online scam operations, which lured victims through online romances to hand over cash for fake cryptocurrency investments.

EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale later told the AFP news agency that another group of 39 Filipinos, 10 Chinese and two people from Kazakhstan had also been deported since August 15.

More deportations were also scheduled in the coming days, he added.

The anticorruption agency released pictures of Asian men wearing surgical face masks, lined up at airport check-in counters.

The deportees were among 792 suspected cybercriminals arrested in a single operation in the affluent Victoria Island area of Lagos in December. At least 192 of those arrested were foreign nationals, of whom 148 were Chinese, the EFCC said.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has a reputation for internet fraudsters known in local slang as “Yahoo Boys”, and the EFCC has busted several hideouts where young crime suspects learn online scamming skills.

According to the agency, foreign gangs recruit Nigerian accomplices to find victims online through phishing scams. The attackers typically try to deceive victims into transferring money or revealing sensitive information such as passwords to accounts.

The scams target mostly Americans, Canadians, Mexicans and Europeans, the EFCC said.

Experts say the fraudulent investment schemes used by cyber-scammers have become increasingly sophisticated and dynamic as they leverage the latest technologies and digital tools.

The schemes ultimately leave victims – many of whom invest their savings, business capital, and borrowed money – unable to do anything but watch their hard-earned money disappear.

Experts also warn that foreign “cybercrime syndicates” have set up shop in Nigeria to exploit its weak cybersecurity systems.

Protests and vigils have taken place around the world in support of Palestinians suffering in Gaza and to pay tribute to the four Al Jazeera journalists and two freelancers killed by Israel in the besieged enclave in a deliberate targeted assassination on Sunday.

Journalists, students, activists and members of civil society – notably in Cape Town, South Africa; Manila, the Philippines; and London, the United Kingdom – held the protests on Wednesday to call on their governments to put pressure on Israel to allow international media into Gaza and bring an end to Israel’s genocidal war there.

Late on Sunday, Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, along with cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, were killed in an Israeli strike that had targeted their media tent located by al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Al-Sharif had been one of Gaza’s most recognisable faces for his constant reporting of the reality on the ground since Israel’s war on Gaza began following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 61,722 people and wounded 154,525. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel, and more than 200 were taken captive.

Nearly 270 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel since the war began.

South Africa

Members of civil society and journalists gathered at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town on Wednesday to express their anger at al-Sharif’s murder, sporting placards with one reading “your voice was louder than their bombs”.

The location is significant, said Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, reporting from Cape Town, as “it’s been an important signal against oppression here in South Africa, especially during the decades of apartheid”.

The people gathered here “have condemned what Israel has done”, Miller said.

“They want the entry of international journalists into Gaza in addition to the work being done by Palestinian journalists,” she said. “People here are angry.”

Journalist Zubeida Jaffer told Miller, “I was one of the journalists who were targeted, you know those media that documented apartheid, so this really resonates with me.”

Miller said, “The South African government has previously condemned the killing of journalists in Gaza, specifically in 2022 when Shireen Abu Akleh was killed. The South African government had said it was a violation of international law.”

Abu Akleh was a Palestinian-American journalist who worked as a reporter for 25 years for Al Jazeera, before she was killed by Israeli forces while covering a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In December 2023, South Africa brought a case before the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

United Kingdom

Reporters belonging to the UK branches of the National Union of Journalists paid their respects on Wednesday to the slain Al Jazeera workers outside the prime minister’s residence at Number 10 Downing Street, said Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from London.

The reporters, holding placards bearing the names of journalists killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began, read out the names of each journalist that appeared on their placard and “symbolically, recited Islamic funeral prayers” for those killed on Sunday, said Hull.

Those present “have really condemned the British government … talking about its complicity in what is going on in Gaza, for not doing more and speaking out more,” said Hull.

While British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday “talked about his grave concern” about the killings of the Al Jazeera journalists, those present on Wednesday “want outright condemnation and nothing less”, said Hull.

“They also want the government to take firm steps to pressure the Israeli government to ensure the safety of journalists in Gaza, importantly to allow international journalists into Gaza to be able to work freely there and for an independent investigation to be carried out by … the International Criminal Court in order to provide justice and accountability for those involved.”

Last week, Starmer condemned Israel’s plans to take over Gaza City, saying they were “wrong” and “will only bring more bloodshed”. He has also announced that the UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel meets certain conditions, including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza and reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.

Philippines

Students, campus journalists and activists gathered at the University of the Philippines on Wednesday to express outrage at the killing of the Al Jazeera journalists.

They say “the attack … is a deliberate cover-up by Israel of its crimes against humanity” in the Gaza Strip, said Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo, reporting from Manila.

“They also describe the accusation that Anas al-Sharif, one of the most prominent voices reporting from within Gaza, is a member of Hamas is baseless,” said Lo, noting that protesters say “this is an age-old tactic used by governments who are bent on silencing the truth”.

“Any imperialist power … will choose a scapegoat to use as a pretext, however false it is,” campus journalist Karl Patrick Suyat told Lo.

These protesters also gathered to urge “the international community to ramp up pressure on Israel to stop its genocide, including for the Philippine government to cut its trade and defence ties with Israel”, said Lo.

The Philippines is the third-largest importer of Israeli weapons.

In June, the Philippines voted in favour of a United Nations General Assembly resolution demanding an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. This resolution also condemned Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war and called for Israel to lift its blockade on humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Beijing warns Manila to stop ‘playing with fire’ after Marcos signals potential Taiwan conflict involvement.

China has sharply criticised Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr after he suggested his country would be drawn into a potential conflict between China and the United States over Taiwan.

During a state visit to India this week, Marcos said the Philippines’ geographic proximity and the large Filipino community in Taiwan meant the country would be forced to get involved in the event of war.

“If there is an all-out war, then we will be drawn into it,” Marcos told Indian broadcaster Firstpost. “There are many, many Filipino nationals in Taiwan and that would be immediately a humanitarian problem.”

In response, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strongly worded statement on Friday, warning Manila not to “play with fire” and urging it to uphold the one China principle.

“Geographical proximity and large overseas populations are not excuses for interfering in others’ internal affairs,” the statement read.

Tensions between China and the Philippines have intensified in recent years over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Both sides have accused each other of provocations, with altercations at sea involving ramming incidents, water cannon blasts, and clashes involving weapons such as spears and knives.

Beijing continues to assert that Taiwan is part of its territory and a breakaway province, a position Taipei rejects.

China also dismissed Marcos’s justification as undermining both international law and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations charter, saying his comments risk destabilising regional peace and harming the interests of the Philippine people.

Marcos’s trip to India also saw the signing of new security agreements aimed at strengthening defence ties between New Delhi and Manila, including cooperation between both countries’ armies, air forces and navies. Indian warships recently began joint patrols with the Philippine Navy in the contested South China Sea in a move likely to anger China.

In another sign of rising tensions, Philippine officials earlier this week condemned the launch of a Chinese rocket, which they said dropped suspected debris near a western province, alarming residents and threatening local ships and aircraft. No damage or injuries were reported.

The escalating maritime standoff has also increasingly drawn in the United States, which has a mutual defence pact with the Philippines. Washington has reaffirmed its commitment to defend Filipino forces, including coastguard personnel, aircraft and public vessels, should they come under attack anywhere in the South China Sea.

US President Donald Trump said the tariff will not impact companies if they have already invested in US facilities.

United States President Donald Trump says he will impose a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made semiconductors, although exemptions will be made for companies that have invested in the US.

“We’ll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100 percent on chips and semiconductors, but if you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no charge, even though you’re building and you’re not producing yet,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Wednesday evening.

The news came after a separate announcement that Apple would invest $600bn in the US, but it was not unexpected by US observers.

Trump told CNBC on Tuesday that he planned to unveil a new tariff on semiconductors “within the next week or so” without offering further details.

Details were also scant at the Oval Office about how and when the tariffs will go into effect, but Asia’s semiconductor powerhouses were quick to respond about the potential impact.

Taiwan, home of the world’s largest chipmaker TSMC, said that the company would be exempt from the tariff due to its existing investments in the US.

“Because Taiwan’s main exporter is TSMC, which has factories in the United States, TSMC is exempt,” National Development Council chief Liu Chin-ching told the Taiwanese legislature.

In March, TSMC – which counts Apple and Nvidia as clients – said it would increase its US investment to $165bn to expand chip making and research centres in Arizona.

South Korea was also quick to extinguish any concerns about its top chipmakers, Samsung and SK Hynix, which have also invested in facilities in Texas and Indiana.

Trade envoy Yeo Han-koo said South Korean companies would be exempt from the tariff and that Seoul already faced “favourable” tariffs after signing a trade deal with Washington earlier this year.

TSMC, Samsung and SK Hynix are just some of the foreign tech companies that have invested in the US since 2022, when then-President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan CHIPS Act offering billions of dollars in subsidies and tax credits to re-shore investment and manufacturing.

Less lucky is the Philippines, said Dan Lachica, president of Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation.

He said the tariffs will be “devastating” because semiconductors make up 70 percent of the Philippines’ exports.

Trump’s latest round of blanket tariffs on US trade partners is due to go into effect on Thursday, but the White House has also targeted specific industries like steel, aluminium, automobiles and pharmaceuticals with separate tariffs.

The exercise coincided with President Ferdinand Marcos’s departure for a five-day trip to India, where he said he would look to deepen maritime ties.

India and the Philippines have staged their first joint sail and naval exercises in the disputed South China Sea.

The two-day joint military deployment that kicked off on Sunday is likely to anger China, which claims nearly the entire key waterway and has separate territorial disputes with the two Asian countries.

Philippine Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr said on Monday that the joint sail took place inside his country’s exclusive economic zone.

“We did not experience any untoward incidents, but there are still those shadowing us – as we had already expected,” Brawner told reporters, without naming China.

In past joint patrols with other foreign navies, Chinese navy and coastguard ships have kept watch from a distance, according to the Philippine military.

Indian navy ships that took part included guided missile destroyer INS Delhi, tanker INS Shakti and corvette INS Kiltan. The Philippines deployed two frigates, BRP Miguel Malvar and BRP Jose Rizal.

The exercise coincided with President Ferdinand Marcos’s departure for a five-day trip to India, where he said he would look to deepen maritime ties and seek cooperation on sectors including defence, pharmaceuticals and agriculture.

Brawner, meanwhile, expressed hope that Filipino forces could engage India’s military in more joint manoeuvres in the future.

The drill “sends a powerful signal of solidarity, strength in partnership and the energy of cooperation between two vibrant democracies in the Indo-Pacific”, he said.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that territorial and maritime disputes should be resolved between the countries directly involved, and no third party should intervene.

In response to a question last week about the Philippines’ plans to build up military cooperation, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense called the country a “troublemaker” that has aligned itself with foreign forces to stir up trouble, in what China deems its own territorial waters.

“China never wavers in its resolve and will safeguard national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and take resolute countermeasures against any provocations by the Philippine side,” spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang had told reporters.

The South China Sea is a strategic shipping route where $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce takes place.

A 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal found China’s sweeping claims have no basis under international law, a decision Beijing rejects.

President Trump praised the Philippines’ president for an “unbelievable job” in a fight against illegal drugs that has left thousands dead and drawn condemnation from American lawmakers, according to a leaked transcript of their telephone conversation last month.

Trump’s discussion with Rodrigo Duterte is likely to reinforce the impression that Trump is sidelining human rights concerns in his foreign policy. Trump has met with several authoritarian leaders since taking office in January, offering few critiques of their records on democracy, the rule of law and protecting essential freedoms.

The transcript of the April 29 call was first posted by the Washington Post. It is marked confidential and is contained under a cover sheet from the Philippine Foreign Ministry. Neither the Philippine government nor the White House verified the transcript, but they didn’t dispute its contents.

It also shows the leaders discussing the North Korean threat, with each referring to North Korea’s ruler, Kim Jong Un, as a “madman.” In an unusual disclosure of the movements of U.S. military assets, Trump revealed the U.S. had two nuclear submarines in the region. He said the United States didn’t want to use them.

Democratic lawmakers criticized Trump for his reported comments.

“Today’s reporting leaves me even more concerned by President Trump’s strange fascination with dictators, his support for the extrajudicial killings central to President Duterte’s ‘drug war,’ and his recklessness with sensitive information,” said Rep. Eliot L. Engel of New York, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Twelve Democratic senators, led by Edward J. Markey, wrote to Trump on Wednesday calling for him to denounce the “murderous” anti-drug campaign and delay any visit by Duterte to Washington until there are improvements in his human rights record.

The Philippines declined to comment on the transcript Wednesday. The Foreign Ministry noted that the unauthorized disclosure and use of illegally or inadvertently obtained government documents are not permitted under Philippine law. A White House official said he could not confirm or deny the accuracy of leaked documents, especially those purportedly from a foreign government.

At the time of the call, Trump raised hackles in Washington by inviting Duterte to the White House. Since Duterte took power in June, his anti-drug campaign has killed 7,000 to 9,000 suspected dealers and addicts, according to human rights groups. The State Department has voiced concern over extrajudicial killings, and U.S. lawmakers have pushed for restrictions on arms sales to Philippine police in response.

“I just want to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,” Trump said in the phone call, according to the transcript. “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”

Duterte responded that drugs are a “scourge” of his nation. Trump then added, “I think we had a previous president who did not understand that.”

President Obama had criticized Duterte’s drug fight, prompting the Philippine leader to refer to Obama as a “son of a whore.” The insult derailed a planned meeting between them. Strains also grew as Duterte sought warmer ties with China and threatened to end the U.S.-Philippine military alliance.

In the call, Duterte described Southeast Asian nations feeling “nervous” over North Korean rockets and warheads. He offered to call Chinese President Xi Jinping to urge Beijing to use its leverage with Pyongyang. Trump, who hosted Xi at Trump’s Florida resort in April, described Xi as a “good guy.”

John Sifton, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, criticized the contents of the conversation.

“Trump’s celebration of Duterte’s record is nothing short of horrifying,” Sifton said. “It is an endorsement of the mass killing of the Philippines’ poorest and most vulnerable.”

ALSO

Philippine president’s swagger recedes in the face of a powerful China

Opinion: Is it good strategy for Trump to meet with amoral dictators?

DEA gave a false story about deadly 2012 attack in Honduras, U.S. report says

WASHINGTON — President Trump welcomed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday at the White House, as the two countries are seeking closer security and economic ties in the face of shifting geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific region.

Marcos, who met Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday, is the first Southeast Asian leader to hold talks with Trump in his second term.

Marcos’ three-day visit shows the importance of the alliance between the treaty partners when China is increasingly assertive in the South China Sea, where Manila and Beijing have clashed over the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal.

As the two leaders sat in the Oval Office in front of reporters on Tuesday, Trump said they would be talking about “war and peace” and trade.

“We’re very close to finishing a trade deal, big trade deal, actually,” Trump said.

Marcos spoke warmly of the relationship between their two nations and said, “This has evolved into as important a relationship as is possible to have.”

Trump, as he does in many of his appearances, veered off topic as he fielded questions from reporters.

In response to a question about his Justice Department’s decision to interview Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend, Trump launched into a long answer repeating falsehoods about his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and the Russia investigation during his first term, along with comments about targeting his political adversaries, including former President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“After what they did to me, whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people,” Trump said, with Marcos sitting nearby.

During the two leaders’ meeting before news cameras, they didn’t reveal details or hang-ups of any possible deal, but Trump called Marcos a “tough negotiator.”

When asked by a reporter how he plans to balance his country’s relationships between the U.S. and China, Marcos said there was no need to balance “because our foreign policy is an independent one.”

“Our strongest partner has always been the United States,” he said.

Washington sees Beijing, the world’s No. 2 economy, as its biggest competitor, and consecutive presidential administrations have sought to shift U.S. military and economic focus to the Asia-Pacific in a bid to counter China. Trump, like others before him, has been distracted by efforts to broker peace in a range of conflicts, from Ukraine to Gaza.

On Tuesday, when asked about the U.S. defense commitment to the Philippines, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said: “Whatever cooperation the U.S. and the Philippines have, it should not target or harm any third party, still less incite confrontation and heighten tensions in the region.”

Tariffs also are expected to be on the agenda. Trump has threatened to impose 20% tariffs on Filipino goods on Aug. 1 unless the two sides can strike a deal.

On Sunday, before heading to Washington, Marcos said he intended to tell Trump and his administration “that the Philippines is ready to negotiate a bilateral trade deal that will ensure strong, mutually beneficial and future-oriented collaborations that only the United States and the Philippines will be able to take advantage of,” according to his office.

Manila is open to offering zero tariffs on some U.S. goods to strike a deal with Trump, finance chief Ralph Recto told local journalists.

The White House said ahead of the meeting that Trump would discuss with Marcos the shared commitment to upholding a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific.

Before a meeting with Marcos at the Pentagon, Hegseth reiterated America’s commitment to “achieving peace through strength” in the region.

Marcos, whose country is one of the oldest U.S. treaty allies in the Pacific region, told Hegseth that the assurance to come to each other’s mutual defense “continues to be the cornerstone of that relationship, especially when it comes to defense and security cooperation.”

He said the cooperation has deepened since Hegseth’s March visit to Manila, including joint exercises and U.S. support in modernizing the Philippines’ armed forces. Marcos thanked the U.S. for support “that we need in the face of the threats that we, our country, is facing.”

China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have been involved in long-unresolved territorial conflicts in the South China Sea, a busy shipping passage for global trade.

The Chinese coast guard has repeatedly used water cannons to hit Filipino boats in the South China Sea. China accused those vessels of entering the waters illegally or encroaching on its territory.

Hegseth told a security forum in Singapore in May that China poses a threat and the U.S. is “reorienting toward deterring aggression by Communist China.”

During Marcos’ meeting Monday with Rubio, the two reaffirmed the alliance “to maintain peace and stability” in the region and discussed closer economic ties, including boosting supply chains, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.

The U.S. has endeavored to keep communication open with Beijing. Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met this month on the sidelines of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations regional forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They agreed to explore “areas of potential cooperation” and stressed the importance of managing differences.

Tang and Price write for the Associated Press. AP writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

Details about the agreement, which US President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social, are limited

United States President Donald Trump said he has reached a trade deal with the Philippines, charging it 19 percent tariff rate for goods it exports to the US, while US goods will pay zero tariffs.

The president announced the new agreement on Tuesday on his social media platform Truth Social shortly after his meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr at the White House.

“We concluded our Trade Deal, whereby The Philippines is going OPEN MARKET with the United States,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform after welcoming Marcos to the White House.

The 19 percent tariff rate was just below the 20 percent threatened by Trump earlier this month, but above the 17 percent rate set in April when Trump announced what he called reciprocal tariff rates for dozens of countries. It matches the 19 percent rate announced for Indonesia and bests Vietnam’s slightly higher rate of 20 percent.

The US had a deficit of nearly $5bn with the Philippines last year on bilateral goods trade of $23.5bn.

Marcos, the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term, told reporters at the start of the meeting that the US was his country’s “strongest, closest, most reliable ally”.

Trump said the two Pacific allies would also work together militarily but gave no details.

Philippine Assistant Foreign Secretary Raquel Solano said last week that trade officials have been working with US counterparts seeking to seal a “mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial” deal.

Protesters gathered near the White House as Marcos arrived, demanding the Philippine leader address the pleas of Filipino Americans and migrant workers who have made multiple requests for support amid US immigration raids.

Trump underscored the importance of the US-Philippine military relationship, saying, “They’re a very important nation militarily, and we’ve had some great drills lately.”

Marcos, who arrived in Washington on Sunday, met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday. During his trip, he will also meet US business leaders investing in the Philippines. Philippine officials say Marcos planned to stress that Manila must become economically stronger if it is to serve as a truly robust partner to the US in the Asia Pacific region.

Looming pressure on China

During the Oval Office event, Trump said he may visit China for a landmark trip “in the not-too-distant future” and noted the Philippines had distanced itself from Beijing after his election last November.

“The country was maybe tilting toward China, but we un-tilted it very, very quickly,” Trump said.

The US president has sought to lower tensions with Beijing in recent weeks after pausing a tit-for-tat tariff war that has upended global trade and supply chains. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday he would meet with Chinese officials in Sweden next week.

No comment was immediately available from Marcos, who did not speak to reporters before leaving the White House grounds.

Vietnam is bracing for Typhoon Wipha, expected to make landfall Tuesday with winds up to 166 km/h. Mass evacuations, flight cancellations, and flood alerts are underway as the country prepares for deadly floods and landslides. The storm killed three in the Philippines.

Vietnam is expecting 500mm of rainfall as Typhoon Wipha approaches the northern coast after skirting the Philippines, where five people were killed and several are missing.

Rainfall and flooding, which left five people dead and displaced thousands over the weekend, have continued in the Philippines following Typhoon Wipha, which is now barrelling towards the coast of northern Vietnam as a severe tropical storm.

As of 6am local time in Vietnam on Tuesday (23:00 GMT), Wipha was situated 60km (37 miles) off the coast of Haiphong City, with wind speeds of up to 102 kph (63 mph), and was moving southwest at a speed of 15 kph (9.3 mph), according to Vietnam’s national weather forecast agency.

No casualties or damage have been reported so far, while an estimated 350,000 Vietnamese soldiers are on standby as the country’s weather agency expects up to 500mm (20 inches) of rainfall, which could cause dangerous flooding and landslides.

Expected to make landfall in Hung Yen and Ninh Binh provinces, located south of the capital, Hanoi, Wipha is forecast to weaken to a low-pressure event on Tuesday night, the agency said.

Floodwaters driven by torrential rains in the aftermath of Typhoon Wipha brought much of life in the Philippine capital, Manila, to a halt on Tuesday, with tens of thousands evacuated from their homes and at least two people believed missing.

Schools and government offices remained closed in Manila and surrounding provinces after a night of rain that saw the region’s Marikina River burst its banks.

More than 23,000 people living along the river were evacuated and took shelter in schools, village halls and covered courtyards. Another 25,000 more were evacuated in the metropolitan area’s Quezon and Caloocan cities.

An elderly woman and her driver were swept down a swollen stream as they attempted to cross a bridge in Caloocan, John Paul Nietes, an emergency operations centre assistant supervisor, told the AFP news agency.

“Their car was recovered last night. The rescue operation is continuing, but as of today, they haven’t found either of them,” he said.

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in the Philippines, five people have been reported killed as of Monday, and at least another five were reported injured following Typhoon Wipha, local news outlet Enquirer.net reported. Seven people are also missing, according to the council.

At least 20 storms or typhoons strike or come near the Philippines each year, with the country’s poorest regions typically the hardest hit. Their impact has become more deadly and destructive as storms grow more powerful due to climate change.

Earlier this year, Super Typhoon Yagi hit Vietnam, killing about 300 people and causing some $3.3bn in damage.

Leaders expected to hold talks on bilateral trade days before US tariffs on Philippine goods set to take effect.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr will meet United States President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally will secure a more favourable trade deal.

Marcos will be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump during the US leader’s second term.

Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in negotiations even with close allies that Washington wants to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China.

“I expect our discussions to focus on security and defence, of course, but also on trade,” Marcos said in a speech before leaving Manila and arriving in Washington on Sunday, with hopes to reach a deal before August 1, when Trump says he will impose 20 percent tariffs on goods from the Philippines.

“We will see how much progress we can make when it comes to the negotiations with the United States concerning the changes that we would like to institute to alleviate the effects of a very severe tariff schedule on the Philippines,” Marcos said.

The US had a deficit of nearly $5bn with the Philippines last year on bilateral goods trade of $23.5bn.

Trump this month raised the threatened “reciprocal” tariffs on imports from the Philippines to 20 percent from 17 percent threatened in April.

Although US allies in Asia such as Japan and South Korea have yet to strike trade deals with Trump, Gregory Poling, a Southeast Asia expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Marcos might be able to do better than Vietnam, with its agreement of a 20 percent baseline tariff on its goods, and Indonesia at 19 percent.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see an announcement of a deal with the Philippines at a lower rate than those two,” Poling told the Reuters news agency.

Marcos visited the Pentagon on Monday morning for talks with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and will see Secretary of State Marco Rubio later in the day, before meeting Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

He will also meet US business leaders investing in the Philippines.

Philippine officials say Marcos’s focus will be on economic cooperation and Manila’s concerns about Trump’s tariffs.

They say he will stress that Manila must become economically stronger if it is to serve as a truly robust US partner in the Asia Pacific.

Philippine Assistant Foreign Secretary Raquel Solano said last week that trade officials have been working with US counterparts seeking to seal a “mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial” deal for both countries.

China tensions

Trump and Marcos will also discuss defence and security, and Solano said the Philippine president would be looking to further strengthen the longstanding defence alliance.

Philippine media quoted Manila’s ambassador to Washington, Jose Manuel Romualdez, as saying on Sunday that the visit would see a reaffirmation of the seven-decade-old mutual defence treaty and “discussions on how we can continue to cooperate with the United States, our major ally”.

With the Philippines facing intense pressure from China in the contested South China Sea, Marcos has pivoted closer to the US, expanding access to Philippine military bases amid China’s threats towards Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by Beijing.

The US and the Philippines hold dozens of annual exercises, which have included training with the US Typhon missile system, and more recently, with the NMESIS antiship missile system, angering China.

Manila and the US have closely aligned their views on China, Poling said, and it was notable that Rubio and Hegseth made sure their Philippine counterparts were the first Southeast Asian officials they met.

Poling said Trump also seemed to have a certain warmth towards Marcos, based on their phone call after Trump’s re-election.