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The Philippines and the US kicked off their largest-ever joint military drills on the former’s Luzon Island on March 28.

The death toll in the Philippines’ military plane crash on July 4 has risen to 29, said a local military commander.

The bodies of 17 victims of the Philippines’ air force C-130 aircraft crash have been found, while 40 others have been rescued, said Philippine Secretary of Defense Delfin Lorenzana.

The Philippine military said on September 23 that it will review the social media accounts of service members after Facebook took down a network linked to state security forces it accused of "coordinated inauthentic behaviour".

The Philippine military said 3 people, including a soldier, were killed and 7 other soldiers wounded when government forces clashed with some 30 Abu Sayyaf fighters in the jungles of Sulu province in the southern Philippines on August 29.

At least six suspected terrorists were killed in two days of fighting between the Philippine troops and Abu Sayyaf militant group over the weekend in the Southern city of Sulu, said the Philippine military on November 25.

The Philippine military has intercepted a suicide bombing plot in the southern Philippines, killing three suspected militants.

Spokesperson of the Philippine President Salvador Panelo said on September 20 that President Rodrigo Duterte has named Lieutenant General Noel Clement as new Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Four government soldiers and four Maute group militants have been killed in a clash in the southern Philippines, the Philippine military said on March 15.

The Philippine military said on September 28 that its joint defence and security activities with US forces, including annual combat exercises, will increase next year.

Three Indonesian fishermen abducted by members of an Islamist group have been freed 18 months after they were abducted in waters off the southern Philippines, the Philippine military said on September 16.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will not attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Australia Summit in Sydney this month, his spokesman Harry Roque said on March 5.

Military and police of the Philippines arrested Rahim Abdul, a suspected Abu Sayyaf bomb expert with a bounty of 1.3 million PHP (26,000 USD) on his head, said Philippine military on November 30.

The Philippine military on November 29 said fifteen suspected militants including six women were killed in a gun battle in Manila, five days after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called off peace talks between the government and rebels.

Japan will build four coast radar stations on islands in the Sulu Celebes Seas separating the Philippines and Indonesia to help Manila counter a surge in piracy by Islamic insurgents.

More troops will be deployed to Marawi city in southern Philippines, to engage in the fight to liberate the city from the Maute Group, a Philippine military official said.

The Philippine military on June 25 began to halt air and ground offensive against Islamic militants in southern Marawi city to allow residents to celebrate the end of the Ramadan festival.

The Philippine military’s spokesperson Restituto Padilla on June 21 said they had repulsed the attack of an Islamic militant group on a school in Pigcawayan town, North Cotabato province, in the southern Mindanao Island.

The Philippine military on June 15 arrested Mohammad Noaim Maute, a senior member of the Islamic State-backed militant group Maute it is fighting in Marawi city, the southern island of Mindanao.

A top military general of the Philippines said on June 13 that Islamic militants are controlling 20 percent of the southern city of Marawi in Mindanao island.