Portal:Philippines

Luzon satellite image by NASA in 2005

Luzon (/luːˈzɒn/ loo-ZON, Tagalog: [luˈson]) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as well as Quezon City, the country's most populous city. With a population of 64.3 million as of 2024,^[1] it contains 55 percent of the country's total population and is the 4th most populous island in the world. It is the 15th largest island in the world by land area.

Luzon may also refer to one of the three primary island groups in the country. In this usage, it includes the Luzon Mainland, the Batanes and Babuyan groups of islands to the north, Polillo Islands to the east, and the outlying islands of Catanduanes, Marinduque and Mindoro, among others, to the south. The islands and provinces of Masbate, Palawan and Romblon are also included, although these three are sometimes grouped with another of the island groups, the Visayas. (Full article...)

• ... that Tropical Storm Pabuk forced PAGASA to issue cyclone advisory bulletins outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility in December 2024, for the first time since 1963?
• ... that the music video for the single "Dam" by the Filipino boy band SB19 has been compared to Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings?
• ... that Nobuhiko Jimbo saved future Philippine president Manuel Roxas from execution during World War II, and Roxas did the same for Jimbo four years later?
• ... that Philippine senator Bong Go showed his back two times to refute accusations from a YouTube series?
• ... that the Philippine embassy in Pretoria responded to a South African newspaper's denunciation of horse fighting in the Philippines by saying that the practice was already illegal?
• ... that Angeline Quinto has recorded songs for at least 35 films and television soundtracks in the Philippines?
• ... that Filipino violinist Gilopez Kabayao was nicknamed the "Mozart to the Barrios"?
• ... that while Philippine Spanish has been described as an endangered language, a new generation of speakers has emerged?

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Official portrait, 2016

Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona Robredo (Tagalog: [ˈlɛnɪ ɾɔˈbrɛdɔ]; née Gerona; born April 23, 1965) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 14th vice president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022 under President Rodrigo Duterte. She is currently serving as the 18th mayor of Naga since 2025. Robredo is the second female vice president of the Philippines, after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and the first from the Bicol Region.

Robredo represented Camarines Sur in the Philippine House of Representatives from 2013 to 2016. She later announced her candidacy for the 2016 vice presidential election as the running mate of Mar Roxas. She won the election, defeating Senator Bongbong Marcos by a narrow margin. She has spearheaded multiple programs in the Office of the Vice President (OVP); her flagship anti-poverty program, Angat Buhay (lit. 'Uplifting Lives'), has helped address key areas including education, rural development, and healthcare, in partnership with more than 300 organizations. During the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, the OVP under Robredo responded by providing free shuttle services for frontline workers, swab tests, telehealth services, and raised funds for relief operations across the country. Robredo was awarded by the government of Thailand in 2016 for her work and advocacy in women's empowerment and gender equality. Under her leadership, the OVP also received the ISO 9001: 2015 certification for the office's quality management systems. (Full article...)

15 February 2026 – 62nd Munich Security Conference

The Philippines signs military defense cooperation pacts with Estonia and Italy at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. The agreements will particularly expand cooperation in cybersecurity and capacity building for their respective armed forces. (Manila Standard)

10 February 2026 – Recognition of same-sex unions in the Philippines

The Philippine supreme court rules that same-sex partners may qualify as co-owners of property under the Family Code when both contribute to its acquisition, reversing lower-court decisions in a dispute between two former partners in Metro Manila. (BBC News)

4 February 2026 –

Nine city government employees are killed when a dump truck, also carrying crude oil, falls into a river in Bayawan, Negros Oriental, Philippines. (ABS-CBN News)

27 January 2026 – Sinking of MV Trisha Kerstin 3

Philippine officials ground the fleet of passenger ships belonging to Aleson Shipping Lines, owner of the sunken ferry Trisha Kerstin 3. (AP via CTV News) (GMA News)

22 January 2026 – Terrorism in the Philippines

A regional court in Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines, sentences journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and her accomplice to up to 18 years in prison for financing terrorism following their arrest in 2020, but acquits them on a weapons possession charge. Press freedom and rights groups condemn the verdict. (AFP via The Guardian) (BBC News)

• ...that Rafael Buenaventura, once-governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and one of the world’s top central bankers, was largely responsible for removing the Philippines from an FATF black list?
• ...that the De La Salle University-Manila College of Engineering was established in 1947 with the aim of providing young men with knowledge of science and technology to help rehabilitate the Philippines, which had been devastated during World War II?
• ...that the Judicial and Bar Council of the Philippines recommends appointees to the country's courts, without the "advice and consent" of the Commission on Appointments?
• ...that although Negros Occidental has the most chartered cities in the Philippines, many of those cities merely resemble medium-sized towns?