Rodrigo Duterte

Washington may launch a military operation that would allow the US military to conduct airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) positions in the Philippines, media reported, citing two defense officials.
According to the NBC broadcaster’s Monday report, the plan to start the operation, which is currently being considered by the US Department of Defense, may be announced later in the day.
The broadcaster also noted that the airstrikes are likely to be carried out by drones.

It is estimated that over 10 million Filipinos live outside of Philippines and many of them remain actively engaged with politics in their mother country while maintaining family and cultural connections.
The 2016 election of President Rodrigo Duterte has galvanised the Filipino diaspora as Duterte’s policies seek to break with the status quo of virtually all of his varied predecessors.

This weekend, Philippines will host this years summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This year’s location of the summit, Manila, is emblematic of the changing alliances currently fomenting in Asia.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has slammed intellectual elitism and snobbery after being attacked by a report of dubious credibility from England’s Oxford University.
The University accused Duterte of paying online ‘trolls’ to promote his political policies both during and after his campaign.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte wears a pilot’s jacket which was presented to him during his “Talk with the Airmen” on the anniversary of the 250th Presidential Airlift Wing, Sept. 13, 2016 at the Philippine Air Force headquarters in Manila.

Mark Lopez lives in Manila and is a graduate from the prestigious University of Santo Tomas. His online writing recent caught global attention when he penned an open letter to the US Congress slamming American politicians who criticise Philippines for supposed ‘human rights infractions’ without full knowledge of the real human rights disaster caused by drug use and the crime wave caused by the narcotics trade.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has given his second State of The Nation address during which he affirmed his commitment to carry forward the war on drugs and related crime including terrorism. Fighting Philippines’ drug and related crime epidemic was one of the central planks of Duterte’s 2016 election campaign which saw him win a clear victory.
Today, Duterte affirmed his position saying the following in English,

In April of this year, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte had a phone conversation with Donald Trump in which the US President invited his Philippine counterpart to the United States. However, Donald Trump’s Congressional opponents have voiced their opposition to the move.
Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern has said he would oppose and boycott such a visit because of his opposition to Duterte’s tough law and order approach to drug crime and related social vices.
Duterte responded by saying,

A new counter-terrorism report from the Indonesian Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict has investigated and confirmed claims that the ISIS insurgency in southern Philippines, particularly on the island of Mindanao is partly funded by ISIS syndicates in the Middle East, including and specifically in the illegally ISIS occupied regions of eastern Syria.
The funds are typically funnelled to South East Asia using conventional means such as Western Union.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has responded to the ISIS beheading of two Vietnamese civilian sailors captured off the cost of the Philippine island of Sibago.
The identities of the sailors has been confirmed as Hoang Trung Thong and Hoang Va Hai.