The mayor of Kalayaan town in Palawan, along with around 200 people, were harassed by two unidentified vessels while they were traveling by sea before midnight Thursday, the local official said.
Syrian rebels Sunday freed four Filipino peacekeepers five days after seizing them at an observation post in the Golan Heights, the Philippine military’s chief spokesman said.
Facing yet another flashpoint over disputes in the West Philippine Sea, the country’s top diplomat said Saturday that the Philippine maritime agencies have initiated an investigation into the “unfortunate” shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman off Batanes, maintaining that the incident occurred during lawful operations within territorial waters.
The United Nations on Wednesday pulled peacekeepers back from an observation post in the Golan Heights ceasefire zone where four Philippine troops were abducted by Syrian rebels, a spokesman said.
An armed group on Tuesday abducted four UN peacekeepers from the Philippines in the Golan Heights, which has been hit by mounting spillover from the Syrian civil war, the United Nations said.
Amid persistent talk about Manila’s contingency plan in case of a full-scale war in the Korean Peninsula, Korean Embassy officials said Wednesday that there is “no reason for alarm” as tension between Pyongyang and Seoul is starting to subside.
Taiwan has held its first large-scale live-fire military exercise in five years, as President Ma Ying-jeou called on soldiers to maintain their “sense of crisis” as China builds up its military.
While the situation in the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, the Philippine Embassy in Seoul has begun preparing Filipino communities for possible conflict scenarios amid tensions between North and South Korea, starting with those in vulnerable cities near the tense border between the Korean neighbors.
President Benigno Aquino III on Friday said there was no “imminent threat ” yet to start the evacuation of about 40,000 Filipinos in the tense Korean Peninsula.
The United States has thrown its full support behind the Philippines’ bid to settle disputes with China in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) through arbitration as the country’s long-time defense ally underscored its importance as a partner in the Asia-Pacific.
More Filipinos have been charged by the Malaysian government for allegedly being part of the intrusion in the disputed territory of Sabah by supporters of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, Malaysian media reported.
The Philippine Air Force has an evacuation plan for the 40,000 Filipinos in South Korea should tensions with North Korea escalate.
