Philippines

Duterte, 76, announced his political plans in a pre-recorded televised public address late Tuesday, reports Xinhua news agency. "I am running for Vice President (in the 2022 elections)," Duterte said, adding he wants to continue his crusade against insurgency, criminality, and illegal drugs. The confirmation comes a few hours after Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, also the executive vice president of the governing PDP-Laban party, announced that Duterte had accepted the party's endorsement to run for Vice President next year.

On Tuesday, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff General Cirilito Sobejana said that another critically injured soldier died, which increased the death toll to 53, reports Xinhua news agency. He said that seven of the 50 soldiers killed in the crash have been identified, while many of the victims were charred and "beyond recognition".

"This is one of the proactive measures imposed to implement international border control because of the Covid-19 Delta variant," Roque said in a televised press conference. The Philippines has detected the more transmissible Delta variants in the samples taken from 17 returning Filipinos, among whom a seafarer has died, the Department of Health of the Philippines said.

Two police officers also went missing after the firefight in the town of Magsaysay in Occidential Mindoro province, according to a police report. The police officers were on their way back from a coordination meeting in the community when they encountered the guerrillas, triggering the firefight, dpa news agency quoted the report as saying.