(PAGASA 24-HOUR PUBLIC WEATHER FORECAST as of Wednesday, 09 July 2025) The Southwest Monsoon (Habagat) continues to affect Mindanao. FORECAST: The Zamboanga Peninsula will experience cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms due to the Southwest Monsoon. These conditions may lead to possible flash floods or landslides, especially during moderate to occasionally heavy rainfall. The rest of Mindanao will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms also influenced by the Southwest Monsoon. Winds will be light to moderate from the southwest, with slight to moderate seas (wave height between 0.6 to 2.1 meters).


TOP STORIES – Saturday, 17 February 2024

TODAY’S TOP STORIES (from online and print media monitoring)

As of 4:00 p.m., Saturday, 17 February 2024

Filipino fishermen fetch MV Kapitan Felix Oca at a designated rendezvous point in the West Philippine Sea on December 11, 2023.  Michael Varcas / The Philippine STAR
 1. WEST PHL SEA:

-More PCG, BFAR vessels to be deployed in Bajo De Masinloc to protect fishers vs China

-BFAR: China using cyanide to ‘intentionally destroy’ Bajo de Masinloc

-PH, China exchange radio challenges in WPS anew

-Chinese ships block passage to Ayungin Shoal as PH holds another resupply mission

[ABS-CBN News, GMA News, Philstar, Business Mirror, Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, Manila Times, Manila Standard]

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/02/17/2334035/more-pcg-bfar-vessels-be-deployed-west-philippine-sea

2. SC nixes WPS oil pact with China, Vietnam

[Manila Standard, Daily Tribune, Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, Remate]

https://www.manilastandard.net/news/314417544/sc-nixes-wps-oil-pact-with-china-vietnam.html

3. PBBM signs new laws on state universities' upgrading, new medical school

[GMA News, Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, News5PH]

https://mb.com.ph/2024/2/17/pbbm-signs-new-laws-upgrading-state-universities-establishing-college-of-medicine-program-1

4. PBBM vows to finish land reform program started by dad

[Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, Philstar, Manila Times, Abante Tonite, People’s Tonight]

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1905687/marcos-fears-ghosts-if-land-reform-idled

5. PIRMA head faces Senate contempt raps

[Philstar, Manila Bulletin, Daily Tribune]

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/02/17/2334033/pirma-head-faces-senate-contempt-raps

6. Military personnel banned from using TikTok

[Philstar, Abante, GMA News, Manila Times]

 https://www.manilatimes.net/2024/02/17/news/ph-military-bans-use-of-tiktok-among-uniformed-personnel/1932903

7. Prosecutors push arson charge vs director Jade Castro, companions

[GMA News, Rappler, ABS-CBN News]

https://www.rappler.com/philippines/prosecutor-pushes-arson-charge-director-jade-castro-companions

© Philippine Information Agency Monitoring Unit

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