2016 in the Philippines details events that occurred in the Philippines in 2016.
Incumbents
President: Benigno Aquino III (Liberal) (until June 30) Rodrigo Duterte (PDP–Laban) (from June 30) Vice President: Jejomar Binay (UNA) (until June 30) Leni Robredo (Liberal) (from June 30) Congress: Senate President: 16th Congress: Franklin Drilon (Liberal) (until July 25) 17th Congress: Aquilino Pimentel III (PDP–Laban) (from July 25) House Speaker: 16th Congress: Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (Liberal) (until July 25) 17th Congress: Pantaleon Alvarez (PDP–Laban) (from July 25) Chief Justice: Maria Lourdes Sereno
Events
January January 4 – The Sandiganbayan Special Second Division orders Alfonso Lim Sr., a crony of the late president Ferdinand Marcos, to return to the government all properties he acquired. January 7 – The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division denies the bail petition of Senator Jinggoy Estrada in connection with his alleged involvement in the PDAF scam.
January 8 – The Department of Foreign Affairs files a diplomatic protest against China's test flights in the Kagitingan Reef located across the disputed South China Sea. January 12 – The Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Philippines and the United States signed in 2014. January 13 – Zamboanga City declares a state of calamity due to the onslaught of El Niño phenomenon and its negative effects to the farmlands. January 14 – President Aquino vetoes House Bill No. 5842, which intends to increase the pension of the members of Social Security System. January 15 – Munap Saimaran, one of the bandits in the 2000 Sipadan kidnappings, is arrested in Sulu. January 19: President Aquino approves Republic Act No. 10742 or the SK Reforms Act of 2016 that will enable reforms in strengthening the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) political system. Cotabato declares a state of calamity after damages due to 2016 El Niño reach over ₱200 million, including damage due to drought and rats. January 20: Former Iglesia ni Cristo evangelical worker Lowell Menorca II is arrested by plainclothes Manila Police District officers without a warrant due to libel charges filed by SCAN International Lanao del Norte chapter while trying to attend a hearing in the Court of Appeals. The INC categorically denied the involvement in commotion between the policemen and Menorca. (see 2015 Iglesia ni Cristo leadership controversy) The Office of the Ombudsman orders effectively the dismissal in service of Quezon City District 2 Councilor Roderick Paulate and District 1 Councilor Francisco Calalay and two city liaison officials on the hiring of "ghost employees" in 2010. January 21 – Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino, a former official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency's Special Enforcement Service, is arrested in a buy-bust operation at a shabu laboratory in Santa Cruz, Manila. January 24–31 – The 51st International Eucharistic Congress is held in Cebu. January 26 – The Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee concludes its hearings on the corruption allegations against Vice President and UNA presidential candidate Jejomar Binay. January 27 – The Bangsamoro Basic Law fails to pass on its final reading in the House of Representatives before the end of the 16th Congress due a lack of quorum. Aside from the BBL, Aquino administration's priority bills, the Anti-Dynasty, Anti-Discrimination and the Freedom of Information bills, are effectively "killed" in the 16th Congress as it adjourns in preparation for the 2016 elections. January 31 – In a report by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Philippines places second in the list of most dangerous places for journalists.
February February 1 – The Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 142 issues a warrant of arrest against senator and vice presidential candidate Antonio Trillanes IV over the libel case filed by disqualified Makati mayor Junjun Binay On February 9, Trillanes posted bail. February 3 – The COMELEC 1st Division denies all the disqualification cases against PDP–Laban presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. February 5: The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) files a usurpation case against former PNP Chief Alan Purisima over his involvement in the Mamasapano clash. Maguindanao suffers from the effects of El Niño, destroying rice and corn crops through drought, prompting a food shortage that forces the provincial government to declare a state of calamity. February 9 – AFP and PNP operatives arrest Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) top leader Hassan Indal a.k.a. Abu Hazam in a joint operation in Cotabato City. February 10 – The National Mapping and Resource Information Authority announces that it has documented more than 400 additional islands, mostly in the Mindanao group, using the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar. The islands were previously thought to be part of a bigger island. The previous official count was 7,107 by the Gazetteer of the Philippine Islands in 1945. February 16 – Six policemen are killed and eight others are wounded in a clash with New People's Army members in Barangay Sta. Margarita, Baggao, Cagayan. February 18 – The Department of Transportation and Communications and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board launches the P2P or Point to Point Premium Bus, the first bus service in the country accessible for persons with disabilities. February 19: President Aquino signs Executive Order 201 (under the proposed Salary Standardization Law of 2015) that increases the salaries of government workers and adding additional benefits to civilian and military uniformed personnel. The Ombudsman files graft and documents falsification charges before the Sandiganbayan against former Makati mayor Junjun Binay and 22 others over the alleged overpriced construction of the Makati City Hall Parking Building II. February 26 – At least 60 are killed in an encounter in Butig, Lanao del Sur. Among them are suspected members of the Maute Group and three soldiers. February 29: The Philippines and Japan sign an agreement on the transfer of the Japanese defense and surveillance equipment to the AFP. The remains of Elpidio Quirino, the sixth president of the Philippines, are transferred from the Manila South Cemetery to the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig to mark his 60th death anniversary.
March March 1 – Aid al-Qarni, an Islamic preacher, and a diplomat from the Saudi Arabian embassy is shot by a gunman after a lecture in the Western Mindanao State University in Zamboanga City. March 3 – The Ombudsman files charges against five former Representatives including former Muntinlupa congressman Ruffy Biazon, in connection with the PDAF scam. March 5: The Ombudsman orders the dismissal of Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian and 6 others over the blaze that hit the Kentex Manufacturing Corporation and killed at least 72 people in May 2015. On March 15, The Ombudsman also ordered the filing of graft charges against Gatchalian and seven other individuals in connection with this case. The Philippine government impounds a cargo ship from North Korea in the Subic port in response to UN sanctions on North Korea's nuclear program. On March 24, the North Korean freighter M/V Jin Teng has left the country, after no contraband was found onboard and the ship was cleared by the United Nations.
March 8 – Voting 9–6, the Supreme Court affirms Grace Poe's natural-born status and declares her eligibility to run based on her 10-year residency. March 15: The Supreme Court dismisses several petitions by several party-list groups to issue a TRO to stop the implementation of the K+12 education program of the Department of Education. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee begins its inquiry into the alleged money laundering scandal involving the transfer of $100 million to a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation. March 16: BIR employee Rhodora Alvarez, the whistleblower of a P1.2 billion helicopter deal in 2013, files a plunder complaint against Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin over the anomalous deal. Disqualified Laguna Governor Emilio Ramon "ER" Ejercito and eight other individuals are charged with graft before the Sandiganbayan over an alleged anomalous insurance deal entered in 2008. March 18 – Former Camarines Norte Governor Roy Padilla Jr., is arrested over his failure to return a firearm issued to him in 1992. March 21 – UNESCO adds Albay as one of the 20 additions to its network of protected biosphere nature reserves. March 22: The Sandiganbayan Second Division dismisses the graft case against Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) former president and general manager Winston Garcia on the alleged anomalous awarding of a multimillion-peso electronic membership card (e-Card) project in 2004. The Court of Appeals junks dismissed Makati mayor Junjun Binay's contempt charges against former interior secretary Mar Roxas, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, former justice Secretary Leila de Lima, and five others.
March 23: Diwata-1 is launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Cygnus spacecraft on a supply mission. Cygnus itself is launched using the Atlas V rocket. The satellite is deployed into orbit from the ISS on April 27. Diwata-1 is the country's first micro-satellite and the first satellite to be built and designed by Filipinos. The National Task Force is created for the West Philippine Sea (under the Memorandum Circular 94) that aimed at "achieving unified action" as part of efforts to find a resolution to the country's territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea. March 25 – Chinese customs authorities in Shenzhen destroy 34.78 tons of "substandard bananas" imported from the Philippines due to excessive pesticide use. March 26 – A wildfire on the Philippines' highest mountain, Mount Apo, forces hundreds of people to flee from the peak by foot. March 27 – Anonymous Philippines hacks the website of the Commission on Elections to force them to place security features on Vote Counting Machine (VCM). Later, the LulzSec Pilipinas leaks sensitive information of voters all over the country from the COMELEC website, with the incident being called the "biggest government data breach in history". On April 21, one of the hackers involved in the recent defacement and supposed leak of data from the Commission on Elections' official website has been arrested in Sampaloc, Manila. On April 29, another hacker allegedly responsible for leaking voter information from the Comelec website is arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation. March 28: Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) general manager Neric Acosta is sentenced to a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment after being found guilty of one count of graft by the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division in connection with the misuse of his pork barrel funds as district representative of Bukidnon. None of the three pre-qualified bidders submit offers for the largest Private-Public Partnership (PPP) project to date, the Laguna Lakeshore Expressway estimated to cost around P123 billion. Several piles of license plate sheets are stolen from the Quezon City central office of the Land Transportation Office during the Holy Week break. March 29: Ten Indonesian crew members on board a tugboat are kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf militants in Philippine waters. They are released in Jolo on May 1. President Aquino signs Republic Act No. 10754 into law a bill authored by Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez granting persons with disabilities (PWDs) exemption from the 12-percent value-added tax (VAT) on certain goods and services. The Commission on Elections decides not to stop the broadcast of senatorial candidate Manny Pacquiao's boxing match on April 9.