Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte's preferred successor, Senator Christopher "Bong" Go, announced on Tuesday he was dropping out of the presidential race, leaving the administration without a candidate in next year's polls.

Manila's defence minister on Tuesday accused the Chinese coastguard of "intimidation and harassment" after Philippine navy personnel were filmed and photographed unloading goods in the disputed South China Sea.

A Philippine news reporter has died after being shot multiple times in his home, police said Sunday, becoming the latest in a long line of journalists slain in the country.

The son and namesake of late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos will file his candidacy for president in next year's elections, local media reported on Tuesday, but his lawyer said a final decision had not yet been made.

The Philippines has approved Covid-19 jabs for children as young as 12, an aide to President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday, as the country battles surging infections fuelled by the hyper-contagious Delta variant.

Boxing star Manny Pacquiao said on Sunday he will run for president of the Philippines next year, after railing against corruption in government and what he calls President Rodrigo Duterte's cozy relationship with China.

Philippine security forces have retrieved the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of a military aircraft that crashed in a coconut grove and killed 52 people, a top commander said Tuesday.

Philippine former president Benigno Aquino was laid to rest in a Manila cemetery on Saturday beside his parents, two of the Southeast Asian country's democracy icons.

The Philippine government has signed a supply agreement for 40 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE , the head of the government's Covid-19 vaccine procurement said on Sunday.

The Philippines has detected its first two cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India, its health ministry said on Tuesday, even as confirmed daily Covid-19 infections fell to a near eight-week low.

Philippine authorities said Saturday they have seized some 200 tonnes of illegally harvested giant clam shells worth nearly $25 million in one of the biggest known operations of its kind in the country.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has extended a strict lockdown in the capital region and adjacent provinces by at least one week to try to contain a renewed surge in coronavirus infections, his spokesman said on Saturday.