During Duterte's six-year term, which ended in June 2022, he openly ordered police to shoot dead drug suspects if officers' lives were in danger.

The latest outbreak adds to the list of active African swine fever cases in 12 of the Southeast Asian country's more than 80 provinces.

Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more harm than deeper ones, but local authorities said there were no reports of major damage.

Roel Degamo is at least the third to be shot since last year's general election.

The Princess Empress was travelling from Bataan province, near the capital Manila, to the central province of Iloilo when it had engine trouble and sank in rough seas off Oriental Mindoro province.

The Philippines has ramped up rhetoric against what it describes as China's 'aggressive activities' in the South China Sea, which has also become a flashpoint for Chinese and US tensions around naval operation.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties and no tsunami warning was issued.

Reports say the incident took place at the Second Thomas Shoal, when a Chinese coast guard directed the laser at its ship, causing temporary blindness to crew on the bridge and making 'dangerous manoeuvres'.

He and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are expected to deepen cooperation in disaster relief, a possible precursor to establishing a broader legal framework that would allow Japanese forces to deploy to the Philippines more easily.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was in Manila for talks as Washington seeks to extend its security options in the Philippines as part of efforts to deter any move by China against self-ruled Taiwan.

The Philippine solicitor general says domestic investigative and judicial processes should take precedence over the ICC.

Officially, 6,181 people were killed in Duterte's 'war on drugs' but rights group say that up to 30,000 may have been killed, some innocent victims.