Philippines

The Daily Post reports Jotham Napat announcing this to the Vanuatu-Filipino Community during the 125th Independence Day commemoration in Port Vila at the weekend.

2023 marks 37 years of bilateral diplomatic relations between the two governments.

There are around 300 Filipinos residing in Vanuatu.

Napat also thanked the Philippine government for hosting almost 200 Vanuatu students; and said Vanuatu needs more Filipinos to come and work there.

Authorities on Thursday confirmed the deaths of the two Filipino pilots and two Australian passengers.

Search teams had scoured the slopes of the Mayon volcano since Sunday, when the aircraft wreckage was spotted about 300m (985ft) from the crater.

Teams now faced the challenge of safely retrieving the bodies, officials said.

Local Filipino authorities say they will investigate the cause of the plane's crash.

Almost half the country's schools resumed in-person classes after more than two years of distance learning.

The Philippines was one of the last few countries to transition back to face-to-face learning after Covid struck.

But some experts say the prolonged suspension of in-person lessons has worsened an education crisis.

Around 24,000 of the country's public schools - or just less than half - will implement five days of face-to-face classes.

The quake struck in northern Luzon, the country's most populous island, at 8:43 a.m. local time (8:43 p.m. ET), according to USGS. The agency originally designated the quake 7.1-magnitude, before downgrading it to 7.0.

Its epicenter was about 13 kilometers (8 miles) southeast of the small town of Dolores, Abra province, with a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to USGS.

The earthquake's impact was felt in the capital city, Manila, more than 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) away, where workers and residents evacuated from buildings and gathered on the street.

The man tipped to win the presidency is Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, the son of the nation's former dictator.

If polls suggesting a landslide victory pan out, it will mean the powerful Marcos political dynasty, will sweep back into office.

His closest rival is Leni Rebredo who beat Marcos in the 2016 vice-presidential elections.

Thousands of other roles will also be up for grabs in the general election, including senator posts and seats in the House of Representatives.

Super Typhoon Rai - with winds of about 195km/h (120mph) - sent some 300,000 people running for safety when it hit the country's south-eastern islands.

Rescue teams have described scenes of "complete carnage".

But establishing the scale of the losses is difficult, as communication to a number of areas has been cut off.

There are fears widespread landslides and flooding may have claimed more lives.

"Many areas have no power, no communications, very little water," the chair of the Philippines Red Cross, Richard Gordon, told the BBC.

The Vanuatu Government, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marc Ati, and the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister of Internal Affairs, Ishmael Kalsakau, sent congratulatory messages to all the people from the two countries, to mark the event.

Minister Ati conveyed willingness to strengthen the two countries' relations and continue collaboration in multilateral forums on points of mutual interests such as health, agriculture, trade and capacity building. 

The Nobel committee called the pair "representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal".

They are known for investigations that have angered their countries' rulers, and have faced significant threats.

Both spoke in defence of freedom of the press following their win.

Ressa, who co-founded the news site Rappler, was commended for using freedom of expression to "expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines".

The transporter was carrying more than 90 people, mostly troops, when it overshot the runway on Jolo island.

The dead are mainly military personnel, but three civilians on the ground were also killed, the defence ministry said.

Rescue workers scoured the wreckage of the Lockheed C130 Hercules in a wood near several buildings.

The aircraft burst into flames on crashing, sending a large black cloud into the air.

Several dozen people were injured, and five are still missing, the military said. A nearby military hospital treated survivors.

More than 300 houses were buried under volcanic rocks and mud flows from Mayon Volcano in severely hit Albay province in the Bicol region, a lawmaker said.

Storm surges hit some coastal towns, while rivers overflowed and dikes were destroyed, submerging several villages in Bicol.

The dead and missing were all in Bicol, including nine in Albay, the Office of Civil Defence said.