Breaking News: Earthquake strikes Philippines near Manila

April 8/4/2017.  — A series of earthquakes hit Batangas on Saturday afternoon, being felt in parts of Metro Manila and some areas of south Luzon.

According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the first tremor hit 2km northwest of Mabini, Batangas at 3.07 p.m.

As of 4:29 p.m., Phivolcs reported the following earthquake intensities: 

•    Intensity VII - Mabini, Batangas
     Intensity VI - Calatagan, Nasugbu and Tingloy, Batangas
      Intensity V - Batangas City, Sto. Tomas and Lemery Batangas; Tagaytay City
      Intensity IV- Dasmarinas, Cavite: Lucena City; Pateros City
      Intensity III - Makati City; Pasay City; Quezon City; Muntinlupa City; Malabon City; Mandaluyong City; Bacoor, Cavite
      Intensity II - Daet, Camarines Sur  

Phivolcs recorded a second stronger quake at 3:09 p.m. 12 kilometers northwest of Mabini, clocking in at magnitude-6.0.

As of 4:43 p.m., Phivolcs reported the same earthquake intensities as the first one.

A third magnitude-4.1 tremor was recorded at 3:29 p.m. 2 kilometers northwest of San Luis, Batangas.

Meanwhile, the United States Global Survey (USGS) also reported three earthquakes.

A magnitude-5.5 quake in Bagalangit, Mabini, Batangas was recorded at 3:08 p.m., while a stronger magnitude-5.9 tremor was recorded shortly after in Talaga, Tanauan, Batangas.

USGS added a third magnitude 5.0 earthquake hit Taysan, Batangas at 3:29 p.m.

Shortly after the quakes, Batangas Governor Hermilando Mandanas told CNN Philippines there was no electricity in Batangas City, Bauan, and Mabini.

He added so far, only minor damages have been reported and no evacuations have taken place, but they are still closely monitoring the developments for possible action.

Different origins 

Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum Jr. told the media that the USGS report is not entirely accurate.

"Let me correct the estimation, because the USGS, there is a discrepancy on what they will get because they don't have many stations in the Philippines," Solidum said.

He added the origin of the first quake is the local Batangas fault near the Mabini and Tingloy areas.

Solidum clarified that the two consequent tremors originated at the Manila Trench, meaning they are not related to the first one.

The Phivolcs director explained while the second earthquake has a higher magnitude, it is located in a deeper location along with the third one.

He added the first tremor that occurred in Mabini is now part of a series of earthquakes happening in the Mabini-Tingloy area, which includes the magnitude-5.5 tremor that jolted the province on Tuesday night.

Solidum warned of possible aftershocks and smaller quakes, but said a tsunami is unlikely.

He further explained that the recent Batangas earthquakes will not trigger the so-called "Big One," as it lies in the West Valley Fault. 

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Breaking News. South China Sea: Duterte orders Philippines military to occupy islands

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he has ordered military personnel to occupy all Philippines-claimed islands in the disputed South China Sea.
"We tried to be friends with everybody but we have to maintain our jurisdiction now, at least the areas under our control. And I have ordered the armed forces to occupy all these," he said during a visit to a military camp on the Philippines island of Palawan.

Duterte said he may raise the Philippines flag on Pagasa Island, also known as Thitu Island, on the country's independence day on June 12.
Thitu is in the Spratly island chain, parts of which are claimed by the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.

Building up 

The Philippines has traditionally been a forceful claimant in the territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Under Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino, Manila won a landmark case at an international tribunal in the Hague, which ruled China had no legal basis for the bulk of its claims in the waters.
Duterte's administration has been cozying up to Beijing since his election last year, and territorial disputes have been pushed to the background.
In a visit to the Chinese capital in October, Duterte said to Chinese President Xi Jinping that "America has lost now. I've realigned myself in your ideological flow."
Following his visit, Beijing agreed to allow Philippines fishing ships access to China-controlled territory.
"By cozying up to China and trash-talking America, Duterte has achieved something that Washington couldn't deliver: a peaceful resolution to the Scarborough Shoal standoff," Ashley Townsend, a regional expert at the University of Sydney, wrote for CNN Opinion at the time. 

Trump and China: What's at stake? 

Duterte's latest comments seem to mark a departure from his previous policy, and suggests a desire to pursue the type of militarization Beijing has been accused of bringing to the region.
"Even those, those vacant (islands) that are considered ours, let's live there," Duterte said.
"It's like we're all competing to take these islands. And what's ours now at least, let's take it and make a strong point there that this is ours."
He said the Philippines should "fortify" its territory: "(We) must build bunkers or houses there and make provisions for habitation."
Duterte has a history of making wild claims and pronouncements he does not necessarily follow up on. In December, he had to walk back a story he told about throwing someone out of a helicopter.   

High stakes 

While relations between Manila and Beijing may have improved, tensions in the South China Sea -- which is both resource rich and a crucial shipping route -- have remained high.
China has continued militarizing and building up the territories it controls, reclaiming land to turn sandbars into islands, and equipping them with airfields, ports and weapons systems.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has taken a firm line on Beijing's expansionism, saying in his confirmation that the Trump administration would "send China a clear signal."
"Building islands and then putting military assets on those islands is akin to Russia's taking of Crimea. Its taking of territory that others lay claim to," Tillerson said.
During a visit to Beijing however, Tillerson's tone was considerably softer, and he echoed Chinese language on the need to "expand cooperative areas and achieve win-win results."
Trump meets with Xi Thursday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, though it is unclear whether the South China Sea issue will come up.

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Man seeks justice for wife shot 28 times in Philippines.

A man whose lawyer wife was gunned down on a busy Philippines street is seeking to meet with top-ranking officials to try to bring her killers to justice.

Mia Mascarinas-Green was killed in her car in Tagbilaran City with their three children in the back seat.
Stuart Green, from Hertfordshire, was living with his family in Bohol province when his wife was shot.
After shooting Mia the killers turned the gun on the children but the gun jammed, Mr Green said.

Twenty eight bullets

"If not for the miracle of the gun jamming it was highly likely that I would have returned to four coffins," Mr Green added.
Mrs Mascarinas-Green was forced to stop at about 16:45 on 16 February when a motorbike swerved in front of the car she was driving.
Witnesses said two men walked over to the car and put a bullet in the engine, before firing a total of 28 bullets at Mrs Mascarinas-Green - nine of which lodged into the back of her neck, killing her.



Mia Mascarinas-Green was a prominent environmental and human rights lawyer, whose funeral was attended by thousands of people.
Mr Green, a marine biologist, met his wife in 1990 at a conference in the Philippines and the country was their home, but since his wife's murder the family has returned to Hertfordshire.

'Life-shattering'

He believes the motive for his wife's death is due to a dispute involving a minor case she had undertaken involving the ownership of a holiday hotel.
"Mia was just doing her job. This was not an environmental case or children or women's work. This was just a small case," Mr Green said.
"I feel a burning need to ensure that these people are never able to put any other human being, or family through this heart wrenching and life-shattering experience ever again," he added.
Mr Green is planning to meet with Bohol's governor, the head of the national police and other officials for an update on the investigation.
Friends of the couple have set up an education foundation for the children.

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