19/02/2026

THURSDAY | FEB 19, 2026

7

Sara Duterte to run for president

o Surveys indicate victory for her in 2028 election

projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Marcos has seen friend and foe alike, including a congressman cousin, swept up in the political firestorm since he first put the issue centre stage in a July national address. Marcos and Duterte have been engaged in a high-stakes political brawl that erupted within weeks of their 2022 win in the presidential election, when the vice-president was denied favoured Cabinet portfolios. The impeachment complaints filed against her cite an alleged threat against Marcos made during a late night press briefing that bore shades of her father’s famously scathing verbal style. She would later say her comments were misinterpreted. – AFP

impeachment,” he said. Duterte has the impeachment bid against her revived in recent weeks, with members of the Philippine clergy filing a case against her on Feb 9, one of three logged within days. Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment triggers a Senate trial. A guilty verdict would see Duterte barred from politics and sidelined from the presidential race. A pair of impeachment complaints against Marcos were recently tossed out by the House of Representatives justice committee, which said they lacked the necessary substance. But Marcos is facing his own headwinds, with the archipelago nation still roiling over a scandal involving bogus flood-control seen

to the nation,” the vice-president said, using Marcos’s nickname. Michael Henry Yusingco, senior research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Centre, said the campaign announcement was a “big risk” but that her solid base of support in family stronghold Mindanao gave her a real advantage. “Conventional thinking would say she has the best chance of winning. Survey numbers are in her favour,” he said, while adding her father’s physical absence could discourage supporters. Philippine presidents are limited to a single six-year term, which eliminates Marcos from the field. Yusingco said the Marcos administration was now likely to become more openly hostile. “Behind the scenes, they’ll probably push for her

MANILA: Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte announced yesterday she will run for president of the Southeast Asian nation of 116 million in 2028. Duterte, who is embroiled in a bitter feud with President Ferdinand Marcos, was impeached last year only to see the country’s Supreme Court throw the case out over procedural issues. Her announcement comes just days before her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, begins a pre-trial hearing at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands over crimes against humanity allegedly committed as part of a brutal crackdown on drugs.

“I offer my life, my strength and my future in the service of our nation,” the vice-president said at a press briefing where she assailed Marcos’s record. “I am Sara Duterte. I will run for president of the Philippines.” Duterte accused Marcos of corruption in her brief speech, saying he had failed to live up to his word during the short-lived alliance that saw them storm to a landslide victory in the 2022 presidential election. “In the first few months of our terms, I already saw Bongbong Marcos Jr’s lack of sincerity regarding the promises made during the campaign, as well as his sworn duty

Bangladesh prime minister names Cabinet DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has named a former commerce minister to steer the country’s troubled economy and kept the defence portfolio for himself as he formed his first cabinet.

ONLINE SCAMMERS DUPE CAMBODIANS OF US$45 MILLION PHNOM PENH: Cambodian citizens lost more than US$45 million (RM176 million) to domestic online scams last year, with some victims coerced into sharing explicit content that was then used to blackmail them. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sar Sokha on Tuesday said several victims had taken their own lives under the strain of digital extortion. He said less than US$20 million of the scammed money was recovered, while the remainder could not be traced due to the increasingly sophisticated methods employed by scammers. “The shame and embarrassment associated with these crimes have had fatal consequences in Cambodia,” Sokha said at the launch of “Safer Internet Day 2026”. The government has approved the draft of an anti cyber scam law. – Bernama THREE CIVILIANS SENT DRONES TO NORTH KOREA: MINISTER SEOUL: South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said yesterday three civilians had sent drones to North Korea on four occasions since President Lee Jae Myung took office last year, harming inter-Korean ties. The trio flew the aircraft between September 2025 and January, Chung said, citing an investigation. Drones crashed on two occasions in North Korea, in line with claims made by Pyongyang, he said. On two other attempts the drones returned to Paju, a border settlement in South Korea, after flying over Kaesong, a city in North Korea, Chung said. South Korean authorities were investigating the three civilians on suspicion of violating the aviation safety act and breaching criminal law by benefiting the enemy, he said. Some officials at South Korea’s military intelligence agency and the National Intelligence Service were also under investigation for alleged involvement with the trio, he said. – Reuters

BR I E F S

Tarique was sworn into office on Tuesday after a landslide election victory, taking over from the interim administration that had led the country of 170 million people since a deadly 2024 uprising that toppled the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina. The 50-member Cabinet announced in a gazette notification issued late on Tuesday includes Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, 76, a businessman and veteran lawmaker who has now returned to the finance ministry. Amir is tasked with reviving growth after months of turmoil that rattled investor confidence in the world’s second-largest garment exporter. He had previously served in the Cabinet of Tarique’s late mother, three-time prime minister Khaleda Zia, but was forced to resign in 2004. According to media reports, his resignation came after he had granted permission for Taiwan to open a commercial office in Dhaka. Amir has not spoken publicly about the issue. He was also arrested several times during Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, as her government regularly targeted opposition leaders in cases often decried as politically motivated. Tarique, 60, has appointed himself defence minister, as his government

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin (left) administering the oath as Tarique takes office as prime minister in Dhaka on Tuesday. – REUTERSPIC

engagement with Pakistan. Indian Foreign

faces a daunting list of challenges including improving security and healing rifts in a country polarised by years of bitter rivalry. Bangladesh is squeezed between India, where border tensions are high, and Myanmar, where clashes have spilled over into frontier areas. Bangladesh is home to more than a million Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar. Khalilur Rahman is the foreign

minister, an experienced diplomat and former UN official who holds degrees from universities in Dhaka and the United States. Khalilur held the security portfolio in the caretaker government and helped mediate trade talks with the United States. He faces the tricky task of balancing regional relations after ties with India soured during the interim government, and Dhaka deepened

Minister

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start to allow the JBC (joint boundary commission) to work as early as possible,” Hun Manet said, adding that Thailand had cited its Feb 8 election as a reason not to begin demarcation work. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul rode a wave of nationalism in the election in the wake of the border conflict. “Now the election is done, we hope that Thailand can start, at least on a technical level, to start measuring, start demarcating in the hot zone, so that we can go back to life,” Hun Manet said. – Reuters Jaishankar his counterpart yesterday, saying in a statement that they would work together to “advance our cooperation”. Other members of the Cabinet include veteran politicians, former ministers and lawmakers, as well as academics and several party workers. – AFP congratulated

Let border panel start demarcation work, Thailand told WASHINGTON: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said Thai forces were occupying Cambodian territory after fighting last year despite a peace accord brokered by President Donald Trump. December ceasefire that ended renewed fighting. and barbed wire inside what Thailand had long recognised as Cambodian territory and residents were unable to return home. “This is not an accusation but it’s a statement of the facts on the ground.”

The board was created to oversee a Gaza peace plan, but Trump has said it could take on a broader role. Thailand has said it is maintaining troop positions as part of de escalation measures and denied it is occupying territory. “We still have Thai forces occupy(ing) deep into Cambodian territory in many areas. This is further beyond even Thailand’s own unilateral claim … border line,” Hun Manet told Reuters, adding that Thai troops had laid shipping containers

Hun Manet called on Thailand to allow a joint boundary commission to begin working on their disputed border. Hun Manet travelled to Washington to attend a meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace recently and said he hoped the new body could play a role in de-escalating the situation on the border, which he described as “fragile” despite a

Cambodia could not accept what he called a “violation of our sovereignty or territorial integrity”, he said. “The only way to verify that is using the technical mechanism that we have, based on treaties, based on all the agreements we have. So we hope that Thailand will agree and