The Philippine military on Monday (July 20, 2026) accused China’s coast guard of allegedly injuring a Filipino sailor during an incident in a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

The military said Chinese coast guard personnel aboard a motorboat repeatedly struck the sailor on the head with a wooden baton, injuring him and damaging his smaller vessel.

The assault was captured on video by other Filipino sailors in the hotly disputed Second Thomas Shoal and set off angry condemnations by Philippine officials. They praised the Filipino navy personnel, saying they did not do anything that could have caused an escalation.

China’s coast guard responded by claiming that two rubber boats belonging to an “illegally” stationed Filipino vessel had rammed the Chinese patrol boat “in a dangerous manner.”

“During the incident, Philippine personnel maliciously attacked Chinese law enforcement personnel using oars and long sticks,” the Chinese coast guard said in a statement on social media.

The row was just the latest altercation between Chinese and Philippines personnel in disputed waters in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety. China has demanded that Manila pull away a long-marooned and now rusting navy ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, which is manned by Filipino navy personnel and serves as a fragile territorial outpost.

The Philippine military said a Chinese coast guard inflatable boat carrying eight personnel was deployed from a ship and approached the BRP Sierra Madre within close range and maneuvered around while its occupants took pictures and video.

Filipino sailors aboard two rubber boats asked the Chinese to back away in a non-confrontational manner. “The Chinese coast guard vessel personnel reacted violently and aggressively by striking a Philippine Navy personnel on the head with a wooden baton, causing injury and damaging the navy rubber boat,” the Philippine military said.

The extent of the Filipino sailor’s injury was being assessed to determine if he needed to be medically evacuated, it said.

“No act of coercion or aggression will deter us from carrying out our constitutional mandate or exercising the Philippines’ lawful rights in the West Philippine Sea,” the military said, using the Philippine name for the South China Sea.

“The latest act of violence and harassment committed by the China coast guard against Philippine navy personnel … adds to a clear pattern of provocative and hostile behavior and further contributes to the People’s Republic of China’s deficit of trust and credibility,” the Department of National Defense said in a statement.

The Chinese coast guard accused the Philippines of distorting facts by falsely accusing China, “which is a complete reversal of right and wrong,” according to its statement.

The Philippines deliberately beached the Sierra Madre in the shallows of the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to serve as a territorial outpost. China, which also claims the shoal, later surrounded the atoll with its ships in a tense territorial standoff that has dragged on for years.

The long-simmering territorial disputes, which also involve, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan, is high in the agenda of annual talks in Manila this week between foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and their Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

Both sides have been negotiating a nonaggression pact that aims to prevent a major armed conflict that could draw in the United States, which has vowed to help deter growing Chinese aggression and defend freedom of navigation in the busy waterway.

 Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos ​Jr. on Tuesday (March 24, 2026) declared a state of ‌national energy emergency in response to the ​West Asia conflict and what ⁠he called an “imminent danger” posed to the country’s energy supply.

Mr. Marcos said a Committee has been formed ‌to ensure the orderly movement, supply, distribution and availability of fuel, food, ‌medicines, agricultural products and other essential goods.

Iran-Israel war updates on March 24, 2026

In ‌an ⁠executive order shared with media, ⁠Mr. Marcos said the conflict had created uncertainty in global energy markets, severe supply chain disruption and significant volatility ​and upward pressure on ‌international oil prices “thereby posing a threat to the country’s energy security”.

“The declaration of a state of national energy emergency will ‌enable the government … to implement responsive ​and coordinated measures under existing laws to address the risks posed by ⁠disruptions in the global energy supply and the domestic economy,” he said.

The declaration, which ‌will remain in effect for one year, authorises the government to procure required fuel and petroleum products to ensure timely and sufficient supply and, if necessary, pay part of the contract amount in ‌advance. Philippine Energy Secretary Sharon Garin earlier on Tuesday (March 24, 2026) ​told a news briefing the country had around 45 days of fuel ⁠supply based on current consumption levels.

She said the ⁠government was working to procure 1 million barrels of oil from ‌countries within and outside Southeast Asia to build its buffer stock.

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) ​have ruled that octogenarian former Philippines ‌President Rodrigo Duterte ​is fit to attend pre-trial hearings and will hold a confirmation of charges hearing on February 23, the court said on Monday (January 26, 2026).

Mr. Duterte’s defence had said the elderly politician, ​who is being held in The ⁠Hague over murders during his war on drugs, could not stand trial due ​to cognitive ⁠decline.

Judges said in a statement that a report by independent medical experts found that Mr. Duterte would ‌be able to understand and ‌participate in his case.

They recalled that for someone to ‍be deemed fit to take part in their case it is ‍enough that they have a broad understanding of the procedures, not that they operate at their highest level.

“The Chamber is satisfied, in law, that Mister Duterte is able effectively to exercise his ⁠procedural rights and is therefore fit to take part in ​the pre-trial proceedings,” the judges said.

They also ⁠set a new date for his confirmation of charges hearing, an important step towards a trial.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will remain in detention at the International Criminal Court after appeals judges on Friday (November 28, 2025) rejected a request to release him on health grounds.

The octogenarian is facing charges of crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in dozens of killings as part of his so-called war on drugs when in office, first as the Mayor of a southern city and later as President.

Duterte’s lawyers failed to show that an October decision by the lower chamber was unreasonable, Judge Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza said, addressing the full courtroom in The Hague.

The former President was not in court on Friday.

The defence said it plans to “reintroduce its request to release” Duterte following the results of a medication examination expected next month, lawyer Nick Kaufman said in a statement.

Duterte’s lawyers say he is “infirm and debilitated” and that it is cruel to keep him in custody during the trial. In September the court postponed a pretrial hearing until a full medical assessment could be made. According to defence filings, Duterte’s cognitive faculties have declined to a level that he cannot assist his lawyers.

Last month, judges decided to keep Duterte in custody, finding that he was likely to refuse to return for trial and could use his freedom to intimidate witnesses.

According to court filings, Duterte instructed and authorized “violent acts including murder to be committed against alleged criminals, including alleged drug dealers and users.” The charges against him date from Nov. 1, 2011, when he was still Mayor of the southern city of Davao, to March 16, 2019, when the country withdrew from the court.

Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary. National police put the figure at more than 6,000, while human rights groups claim up to 30,000. Families of victims hailed Duterte’s arrest in March.

The legal team requested that he be transferred to the custody of another member state while proceedings continue. However the appeals judges agreed with the lower chamber that the risk posed by his released “could not be mitigated” by the undisclosed country, Judge Ibanez said.

ICC prosecutors announced in February 2018 that they would open a preliminary investigation into the violence that took place during Duterte’s time in power. In a move that human rights activists say was aimed at escaping accountability, Duterte, who was still president, announced a month later that the Philippines would leave the court.

Countries can’t abuse their right to withdraw from the Rome Statute, the court’s founding document, “by shielding persons from justice in relation to alleged crimes that are already under consideration,” judges wrote in the ruling in October. Duterte’s legal team has appealed this decision as well.

In a statement, the current government of the Philippines acknowledged Friday’s decision. “The International Criminal Court has already made its decision and the Palace respects it,” presidential Communications Secretary Claire Castro said in a statement.

Duterte’s family and allies have blamed current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for what they claim was the ex-president’s illegal arrest and detention by the global court.

The Duterte family said it accepted the decision “with peaceful hearts.”

“We will continue to work with the defence team on the case and will keep supporting former President Rodrigo Duterte with our daily conversations. We thank everyone who prayed with us today,” they said in a statement.

At least five people died in Vietnam after typhoon Kalmaegi pummelled coastal regions with destructive winds and heavy rain, officials said on Friday (November 7, 2025), following the storm’s deadly passage through the Philippines, where it killed at least 188 people.

The storm made landfall in central Vietnam late on Thursday (November 6, 2025), uprooting trees, damaging homes, and triggering power outages, before weakening as it moved inland. Authorities warned of continuing heavy rainfall of up to 200 millimetres (8 inches) in central Provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Tri, and said rising river levels from Hue to Dak Lak could trigger flooding and landslides.

In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to visit affected areas on Friday (November 7) to assess the damage and oversee recovery efforts, with officials saying 135 people remained missing and another 96 had been injured.

In Vietnam, the disaster management agency said seven people were reported injured, and around 2,800 homes were damaged. About 1.3 million people were without electricity, it said.

The State-run Vietnam News Agency said the railway in Quang Ngai had been damaged. Photos and videos on social media showed ripped-off roofs, flooded homes, and streets littered with fallen trees and debris.

A man walks past an uprooted tree in Dak Lak, Vietnam, on November 7, 2025, after Typhoon Kalmaegi lashed the country with fierce winds and torrential rains.
| Photo Credit:
AP

The government said it had mobilized more than 268,000 soldiers for search-and-rescue operations and warned of flooding, which could affect agriculture in the Central Highlands, Vietnam’s main coffee-growing region.

Kalmaegi is the 13th typhoon to form in the South China Sea this year. Vietnam and the Philippines are highly vulnerable to tropical storms and typhoons due to their locations along the Pacific typhoon belt, regularly experiencing damage and casualties during peak storm seasons.

The Philippines’ civil aviation regulator has placed all area centres and airport operations under heightened alert in preparation for another typhoon, Fung-wong, which is forecast to intensify into a super typhoon before making landfall in the northern Philippines on Sunday (November 2, 2025) evening or early Monday morning.

China’s Coast Guard accused a Philippine ship of deliberately ramming one of its vessels on Tuesday (September 16, 2025) near Scarborough Shoal, a disputed territory that both countries claim in the South China Sea.

A Coast Guard statement said more than 10 Philippine government ships coming from various directions entered the waters around the shoal, which is called Huangyan island in Chinese. It said it deployed water cannons against the vessels.

The encounter came six days after China announced it was designating part of Scarborough Shoal as a national nature reserve.

There was no immediate comment from the Philippines. The government in Manila said last week it was filing a diplomatic protest against the designation of a nature reserve at what it calls Bajo de Masinloc.

China and the Philippines have clashed repeatedly around outcroppings in the South China Sea, which China claims almost in its entirety. The two countries are among several that have competing claims to territory in the waters, which are of strategic importance and home to valuable fishing grounds.

The Chinese Coast Guard statement blamed the Philippines for Tuesday’s (September 16) collision, calling its actions both provocative and egregious.

Several friendly countries have backed the Philippines on the nature reserve.

A statement from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Chinese action “yet another coercive move to advance sweeping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea at the expense of its neighbours.”

Great Britain and Australia expressed concern about the announcement in social media posts.

The Canadian Embassy in the Philippines said: “We oppose attempts to use environmental protection as a way to take control over the disputed Scarborough Shoal.”