2015 In The Philippines

2015 in the Philippines details events of note that happened in the Philippines in 2015. International events that are connected, or concerned with the Philippines are also included in this significant and important article.

The year was designated by the Department of Tourism as Visit the Philippines Year.

Incumbents

* President: Benigno S. Aquino III (Liberal)
* Vice President: Jejomar C. Binay Sr. ( UNA)
* Congress (16th):
** Senate President: Franklin M. Drilon (Liberal)
** House Speaker: Feliciano R. Belmonte Jr. (Liberal)
* Chief Justice: Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno

Events

January

* January 6 – Importer Lilia Cruz also known as Leah Cruz, Bureau of Plant Industry Director Clarito Barron, and 119 other persons are charged by the National Bureau of Investigation of direct bribery and violation of the Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act at the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged garlic cartel last year.
* January 9 – The Supreme Court declares its decision on the unconstitutionality of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), popularly termed as the pork barrel funds, final and executory. It can be remembered in November of the previous year, the said court held that "PDAF and previous pork barrel funds violated the constitutional principle of separation of powers in allowing lawmakers to wield, in varying gradations, non-oversight, post-enactment authority in vital areas of budget execution."
* January 12 – Sandiganbayan finds former Board of Nursing member Virginia Diodola-Madeja guilty of violating the Anti-Corrupt Practices Act and the PRC Modernization Act of 2000 and was sentenced to 7 years in prison for leaking questions in the June 2006 Nursing Licensure Examinations. In addition to her imprisonment, she was also ordered to pay a fine of 100 thousand pesos and was barred from holding any public office.
* January 14 – A bomb destroys a transmission tower in Pagalungan leaving much of the provinces of Maguindanao and North Cotabato without power.

* January 15– 19 – Pope Francis visits the country for a five-day state and pastoral visit. The pope also visited the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in Leyte which were affected by the said typhoon last November 2013. This was the first papal visit the Philippines received in the 21st century.
* January 21 – The Supreme Court en banc dismisses several petitions regarding the disqualification of Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada; 11 justices voted against the disqualification, while 3 voted for it.
* January 23 – An explosion occurs near the bus terminal in Barangay Guiwan, Zamboanga City; 2 people were killed and 53 were injured. The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) were tagged behind the explosion after the failed jailbreak attempt of several ASG members in the prison.

* January 25 – 44 members of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) are killed after a clash took place in Tukalinapao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao against armed fighters including those from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. PNP-SAF's objective is to pursue Zulkifli Abdhir also known as Marwan and Basit Usman as part of Oplan Exodus and killed the former. The deaths of the PNP-SAF officers ignited debate on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law which will be the foundation of a new autonomous entity called Bangsamoro.
* January 26 – The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee holds Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin "Junjun" Binay and five others in contempt; they faced arrest due to the alleged continued snub by Binay and other Makati officials of an ongoing Senate probe. 3 days later, Binay was arrested and forced to appear in the Senate hearing but the detention was deferred leading to his release.
* January 27 – The Department of Justice rejects the appeal by United States Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton to drop the murder charges against him over the Death of Jennifer Laude, a Filipina trans woman. The trial began on March 23.
* January 29 – The Government of the Philippines and the MILF sign a protocol for the decommissioning of rebel firearms in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
* January 31 – Two Philippine Air Force (PAF) pilots are killed after the PAF trainer aircraft SF-260FH Number 1034 crashed around 300 meters off the shoreline of Barangay Bucana, Nasugbu, Batangas, while attending their performance for the upcoming 70th anniversary of the liberation of Nasugbu from the Japanese Imperial Forces during World War II.

February

* February 2 – Former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos is acquitted on the 2007 electoral sabotage case by the Pasay Regional Trial Court.
* February 3 – The Supreme Court affirms the unconstitutionality of the Disbursement Acceleration Program on its new ruling. Voting 13–0, the SC partially granted the government's Motion for Reconsideration on the DAP. Projects and programs that not covered by the General Approriations Act is valid and the authors may be liable.
* February 5 – The Department of Foreign Affairs files two protest notes questioning China for ramming Filipino fishing boats and collecting giant clams over the Scarborough Shoal (''Bajo de Masinloc'').
* February 14 – 50 rebel members of the New People's Army are figured in a failed attack and shootout inside a police station in Mati, Davao Oriental. 4 soldiers and a NPA member were killed.
* February 18 – Masbate Governor Rizalina Lanete surrenders to the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detention Group authorities after the Sandiganbayan had issued a warrant of arrest against her in connection with her participation in the PDAF scam.
* February 24 – The Supreme Court decides affirmatively about the dismissal of PMA Cadet Aldrin Jeff Cudia, last year due to honor code violations.
* February 25:
** Former Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives party-list Representative Edgar Valdez surrenders to sheriff of Sandiganbayan. Valdez is facing one count of plunder and seven counts of graft for allegedly receiving P57.78 million worth of kickbacks from the PDAF scam.
** AFP declares its all-out offensive campaign against the MILF break away group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. On March 3, Maguindanao was placed under the state of calamity due to the continuing battle between the military forces and the BIFF. In an encounter happened on March 7, the AFP confirmed that 139 members including commanders of the BIFF were killed, including a kin of BIFF founder Ameril Umbra Kato. On March 30, The Armed Forces of the Philippines announced the termination of the all-out offensive against the rebel group.
* February 28 – A total of 26 people are killed among them were 2 soldiers and 24 members of the Abu Sayyaf Group in Patikul, Sulu.

March

* March 4 – The wreck of the World War II Japanese battleship ''Musashi'' is found by Paul Allen and his team in the Sibuyan Sea. ''Musashi'' was one of the two biggest Japanese battleships ever built; it was attacked and sunk by American aircraft on October 24, 1944, in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
* March 6 – The Office of the Ombudsman's special panel of investigators files complaints against Vice President Binay, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, and 22 individuals, in connection with the overpriced Makati City Hall II Parking Building. Ombudsman will start the preliminary probe after the filing of the cases. On March 11, the Ombudsman suspended Makati Mayor Junjun Binay and other city officials for 6 months in connection with the case. Binay did not follow the decision. On March 16, plunder and graft charges were filed against Vice President Binay and Mayor Binay for the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall Building II. The elder Binay was city mayor and the younger Binay a city councilor at the time of the construction. On the same date, the Court of Appeals released a temporary restraining order for the preventive suspension of Mayor Binay. On April 6, the Court of Appeals indefinitely extended its halt order on the preventive suspension of Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, as the appellate court issued a writ of preliminary injunction in favor of Binay. On the other hand, Acting Mayor Romulo Peña was ordered by the Department of the Interior and Local Government to step down and return to his previous post as vice mayor. On November 11, the Supreme Court reversed the Office of the Ombudsman's decision to suspend Makati Mayor Binay.
* March 8 – British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney files a case for the continued detention of former president and Pampanga congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo against the government before the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a body under the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. On October 2, The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has released its opinion that the detention of former President Arroyo "violates international law" and is "arbitrary on a number of grounds."
* March 9:
** DFA confirmes the execution of Joven Esteva, an Overseas Filipino Worker who was charged of murder on the killing of his employer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2007.
** A Quezon City court orders the temporary release of Sajid Ampatuan, the son of Andal Ampatuan Sr., after Sajid posted bail of P11.6 million; Sajid was charged with murder in connection with the Maguindanao massacre on November 23, 2009, that killed 57 people including 31 journalist.
* March 15 – Justice for Islamic Movement founding chairman and former vice chairman of the BIFF, Mohamad Ali Tambako and five others are arrested in General Santos City.
* March 17 – The Philippines submits its 3,000-page document containing additional volumes of arguments, evidence and maps seeking to nullify China's sweeping claim over the resource-rich South China Sea to the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration.
* March 20 – The Armed Forces of the Philippines transports 17 suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf Group from the Zamboanga City jail to Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig, over security concerns raised by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
* March 22 – The first of three new C-295 medium lift aircraft under the Philippine Air Force Modernization Program arrives at Clark Air Base in Pampanga.
* March 26 – President Aquino III signs Republic Act No. 10656 into law that postpones the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to October 2016. This postponement was the fourth time. On March 25, the Commission on Elections had deferred the SK elections to April 25. Previously, the election was supposedly to be held on October 28, 2013; it was again postponed to February 21, 2015.

April

* April 6 – Gemma Adana, the Municipality Mayor of Naga, Zamboanga Sibugay is abducted by a heavily armed group in her house. On October 12, Mayor Adana has been released after over six months in captivity.

* April 14 – In connection with the serious illegal detention case, Janet Lim Napoles, the mastermind of the PDAF Scam, is found guilty beyond reasonable doubt and was sentenced of ''reclusion perpetua''.
* April 20 – The Armed Forces of the Philippines releases the pictures of the continue reclamation of China in the South China Sea.
* April 21 – The Supreme Court voids an agreement between the Commission on Elections and Smartmatic-TIM for the P300-million diagnostics and repair of the 80,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan machines for the 2016 polls.
* April 22 – SC releases a Temporary Restraining Order for the memorandum issued by the Commission on Higher Education on the removal of Filipino and Literature college subjects as part of the K to 12 education program.
* April 29 – The execution of the convicted Filipina drug mule Mary Jane Veloso is postponed.

May

* May 3 – Abdul Basit Usman, the most wanted bomb expert in the country, was killed by a MILF group unit, and not by his followers, as early reported in Guindulungan, Maguindanao.
* May 6 – The Court of Tax Appeals has lifted the warrant of arrest it issued against Jeane Catherine Napoles, the daughter of Janet Lim Napoles, after she failed to show up for her arraignment on a P17.46-million tax evasion case.
* May 8:
** The Commission on Elections conducted recall election in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Incumbent mayor Lucilo Bayron successfully defended his seat.
** Philippine Ambassador to Pakistan Domingo D. Lucenario died in a helicopter crash in Pakistan; other diplomats and the two helicopter pilots, who were with Lucenario, were also killed in the said incident.
** The Moro Islamic Liberation Front registers the United Bangsamoro Justice Party as its vehicle to run in future elections.
* May 11 – The Court of Appeals has frozen 242 bank accounts and insurance policies belonging to Vice President Jejomar Binay, some members of his family and close associates, who are suspected of being his dummies.
* May 13 – At least 72 were killed in a big fire inside the Kentex Manufacturing slippers factory in Brgy. Ugong, Valenzuela City. The incident was the third worst fire in Philippine history.
* May 20 – The Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed the complaint filed by former Iloilo Provincial Administrator Manuel Mejorada against Senator Franklin Drilon, DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson, DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., and other officials involved in the construction of the Iloilo Convention Center.

* May 29 – President Benigno Aquino III signed Executive Order No. 183 that created the Negros Island Region to improve the delivery of public services in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, which forms part of the new region.

June

* June 3 – The United States Embassy turns over to the Philippine government a check amounting to some $1.3 million as the second tranche of proceeds from the forfeited assets of former Armed Forces of the Philippines military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia.
* June 16 – The first phase of decommissioning of Moro Islamic Liberation Front's fighters begins.
* June 22 – Vice President Jejomar Binay resigns from his post in President Benigno Aquino III's Cabinet as chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers effective immediately.
* June 25:
** The Office of the Ombudsman files graft charges against Optical Media Board chair Ronnie Ricketts and four others for allegedly allowing the return of confiscated copyright violating DVDs and VCDs to the Sky High Marketing Corporation in 2010.
** Raul Pangalangan, former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law, is elected judge of the International Criminal Court.
** All local airlines can now enter the European airspace after the European Commission removes the Philippines from the European Union Air Safety List.
* June 29:
** The Philippines halts the repair of its airstrip on Pag-asa Island of the disputed Spratly Islands due to its pending suit at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague challenging China's claim over the waters.
** Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales approves the preventive suspension of Makati Mayor Junjun Binay in connection with his supposed involvement in the alleged anomalous construction of a ten-storey building in Makati Science High School.
* June 30:
** The Office of the Ombudsman dismisses former Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima and 10 other officials for entering into an anomalous contract with courier service Werfast Documentary Agency in 2011.
** The Philippines and six other countries defer joining the newly established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
** The Supreme Court of the Philippines asks the government to respond to a petition seeking to repeal a law banning same-sex marriage in the country.
** Miriam Defensor Santiago files a lawsuit against the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement in the Supreme Court.

July

* July 1 – The Philippine National Oil Company–Exploration Corporation announces the discovery of a major natural gas reserves of 71-billion cubic feet.
* July 2 – ''MB Kim Nirvana'', a motorized banca bound for Camotes Islands from Ormoc, Leyte which carried 173 passengers, capsizes off the coast of Ormoc killing 62 of its passengers.
* July 3 – Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales orders the filing of graft charges against former Metro Rail Transit 3 general manager Al Vitangcol III and five incorporators of Philippine Trans Rail Management and Services Corporation in connection with alleged irregularities in the MRT-3's interim maintenance contract.
* July 7 – Oral arguments on the Philippines' claim over the West Philippine Sea begins in The Hague, Netherlands.
* July 10 – Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri, former 56th Commanding General of the Philippine Army is designated as the newest AFP Chief of Staff in the turn-over ceremonies led by President Aquino III in Camp Aguinaldo. Iriberri's predecessor Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang has retired from military service.
* July 14 – Dir. Ricardo Marquez, director for operations since December 2013 is named the new chief of the Philippine National Police.
* July 15 – Major General Eduardo Año, who was linked to the disappearance of activist Jonas Burgos in 2007, is instated the new chief of the Philippine Army.
* July 17 – Nine miners are killed when a mining site collapsed following a rain-induced landslide in Caluya, Antique.
* July 20 – Vice President Jejomar Binay files a P200-million damage suit arising from alleged libelous statements against Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano; Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales; former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado; and eight others.
* July 21 – President Benigno Aquino III signs into law two of his priority economic bills: the Philippine Competition Act (Republic Act No. 10667), as well as amendments to the 50-year-old Cabotage Law (Republic Act No. 10668), during a ceremony in Malacañang attended by members of Congress.
* July 23 – The Iglesia ni Cristo expels Tenny Manalo, the widow of INC's former executive minister Eraño Manalo

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