2021 in the Philippines

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2021 in the Philippines details events of note that have occurred in the Philippines in 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic, which largely defined 2020, continued into 2021.

Decades:

Incumbents

For the current incumbents of the Executive Cabinet under the current administration, see Cabinet of the Philippines. For the current leaders in the Congress of the Philippines, see Senate of the Philippines and the House of Representatives of the Philippines. For the complete list of the current Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, see Current Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, see Current Justices of the Court of Appeals, see Current Justices of the Court of Tax Appeals, see Current Justices of the Sandiganbayan.

Rodrigo R.
Duterte

Leni G. Robredo

Vicente C.
Sotto III

Alexander G.
Gesmundo

President: Rodrigo Duterte (PDP–Laban)
Vice President: Leni Robredo (Liberal)
Congress (18th):
- Senate President: Tito Sotto (NPC)
- House Speaker: Lord Allan Velasco (PDP–Laban)
Chief Justice:
- Diosdado Peralta (until March 27)
- Estela Perlas-Bernabe (acting), (March 27 – April 5)
- Alexander Gesmundo (from April 5)

Ongoing events

COVID-19 pandemic
- Pharmally scandal (from July)
2021 Quincentennial Commemorations in the Philippines, which includes the 500th anniversaries of the introduction of Christianity in the Philippines, the Philippines' part in Magellan's circumnavigation of the world, and the victory of Lapulapu's forces in the Battle of Mactan.^[1]

Events

January

January 4 – President Duterte signs Republic Act No. 11510, institutionalizing the alternative learning system (ALS).^[2]^[3]
January 18 – The Department of National Defense announces its unilateral termination of its 1989 accord with the University of the Philippines which took effect three days earlier over claims that the New People's Army is recruiting members in the universities' campuses. The agreement limited the entry of police and military of the national government in the University of the Philippines' campuses.^[4]^[5]

February

February 5 – Businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, former Cagayan de Oro representative Constantino Jaraula, and three others are convicted by the Sandiganbayan of graft and malversation of public funds, in relation to the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.^[6]^[7]
February 7: – 2021 Davao Del Sur earthquake: A 6.0 M_w  earthquake strikes Mindanao, injuring 14 and causing damage.^[8]
February 16:
- The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, unanimously dismisses the electoral protest of defeated vice presidential candidate and former senator Bongbong Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo.^[9]^[10]
- President Duterte grants amnesty to members of the Moro National Liberation Front, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade who have committed crimes in pursuit of their political beliefs, and who would agree to surrender their weapons.^[11]^[12]
February 17 – Senator Leila de Lima is acquitted, due to insufficient evidence, in one of the three drug cases filed against her.^[13]
February 26 – President Duterte signs Republic Act No. 11524, creating a trust fund for the country's coconut farmers.^[14]
February 28 – The Philippines receives its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines, with the arrival of 600,000 doses of China-based drugmaker Sinovac Biotech vaccine CoronaVac.^[15]^[16]

March

March 1 – The Department of Health and National Task Force Against COVID-19 start its vaccination campaign with 600,000 doses of donated COVID-19 vaccines from Sinovac. Philippine General Hospital director Gerardo Legaspi becomes the first person in the country to be legally inoculated with CoronaVac.^[17]
March 13 – Residents of Palawan, except Puerto Princesa, vote in a plebiscite to disapprove a law that would divide Palawan into three separate provinces.^[18]^[19]
March 21 – The Philippines files its first formal diplomatic protest with regard to the presence of about 220 Chinese fishing boats moored at Whitsun Reef in the Spratly Islands as early as March 7.^[20] The incident at Whitsun Reef caused diplomatic tensions between China and the Philippines with the latter suspecting the ships to be part of a militia and that China plans to use the ship to secure control over the disputed reef.^[21]
March 27 – President Duterte approves the IATF's recommendation to place the Greater Manila Area under enhanced community quarantine from March 29 to April 4, later it was extended until April 11.^[22]^[23]

April

April 30 – PhiSys becomes available for online registration. The Philippine Statistics Authority receives more than 40,000 registration requests on the first minutes of the pilot launch.^[24]^[25]

May

May 8 – The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters occupy the public market of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao.^[26]
May 11 – President Duterte places the Philippines under a state of calamity for a period of one year due to the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak.^[27]
May 14 – The government's Anti-Terrorism Council publicly releases separate resolutions formally declaring Communist Party of the Philippines founder Joma Sison and 18 other alleged communist leaders, as well as 10 leaders of Islamic extremist groups, as terrorists.^[28]^[29]
May 25 – St Joseph College of Bulacan closes.^[30]
May 27:
- Republic Act 11550 is signed into law, approving the province of Maguindanao to be split into two provinces: Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur pending approval in a plebiscite.^[31]
- President Duterte signs Republic Act No. 11521, extending the electricity lifeline rates for the poor for a period of 50 years.^[32]^[33]

June

June 21 – The Sandiganbayan convicts six retired officers of the Philippine National Police, including former chief Jesus Verzosa, of graft in connection with the procurement of at least ₱131-million worth of rubber boats and outboard motors in 2009. The decision is affirmed in 2022.^[34]

July

July 4 – A Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) crashes in Patikul, Sulu, killing 53 people. The incident is the deadliest aviation accident involving the Armed Forces of the Philippines.^[35]^[36]^[37]^[38]
July 19 – The Anti-Terrorism Council publicizes a June 23 resolution formally designating the National Democratic Front as a terrorist organization.^[39]
July 30 – President Duterte revokes his order to terminate the Philippines' Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States.^[40] The termination process was initiated in February 2020 by notifying the United States. The termination was to take effect after six months but was pushed back multiple times.^[41]^[42]

August

August 16 – A daylong encounter between soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and members of the New People's Army in Dolores, Eastern Samar results in the deaths of at least 19 rebels.^[43]^[44]

October

October 3 – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and assorted media partners publish a set of 11.9 million documents leaked from 14 financial services companies known as the Pandora Papers, revealing offshore financial activities which listed several current and former Philippine officials and personalities that included Secretary of Transportation Arthur Tugade and former COMELEC chairman Andres Bautista.^[45]^[46]
October 8 – Journalist Maria Ressa, the founder and chief executive officer of the online news website Rappler, is awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, along with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, "for their efforts to safeguard the freedom of expression" with regards to freedom of the press.^[47] Ressa is the first individual Filipino Nobel Prize laureate and the first Filipino Nobel Peace Prize laureate.^[48]
October 12 – The Antipolo Regional Trial Court convicts three members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement for the 1986 killing of labor leader Rolando Olalia and unionist Leonor Alay-ay.^[49]

December

December 10 – President Duterte signs Republic Act 11596 into law, criminalizing child marriage in the Philippines.^[50]
December 16–18 – Typhoon Rai (Odette) makes landfall in the southern Philippines causing at least 407 deaths and ₱33.2 billion worth of damage to infrastructure and agriculture.^[51]^[52]^[53] Pres. Duterte declares a state of calamity in six regions on December 21 as a response to the typhoon's impact.^[54]^[55]^[56]^[57]
December 31 – Republic Act 11641 is signed into law which creates the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). The department reorganizes Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the Department of Labor and Employment's International Labor Affairs Bureau and all Overseas Labor Offices, the National Reintegration Center for OFWs, and the National Maritime Polytechnic.^[58]

Holidays

On July 31, 2020, the government announced at least 18 Philippine holidays for 2021 as declared by virtue of Proclamation No. 986, series of 2020.^[59] On February 26, 2021, in an effort to stimulate economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Duterte signed Proclamation No. 1107 reducing the number of special non-working holidays and declaring November 2, December 24, and December 31 as "special working days" instead.^[60]

Regular

January 1 – New Year's Day
April 1 – Maundy Thursday
April 2 – Good Friday
April 9 – Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor)
May 13 – Eid'l Fitr (Feast of Ramadan)
June 12 – Independence Day
July 20 – Eid'l Adha (Feast of Sacrifice)
August 30 – National Heroes Day
November 30 – Bonifacio Day
December 25 – Christmas Day
December 30 – Rizal Day

Special (Non-working)

February 12 – Chinese New Year
February 25 – 1986 EDSA Revolution
April 3 – Black Saturday
May 1 – Labor Day
August 21 – Ninoy Aquino Day
November 1 – All Saints Day
November 2 – Special working holiday
December 8 – Feast of the Immaculate Conception
December 24 – Special working holiday
December 31 – Special working holiday (in observance of New Year's Eve celebrations)

Business and economy

January 7 – The Security and Exchange Commission announces that it allows Investree to commence commercial operations. The firm becomes the first crowdfunding portal to be allowed to operate from the Philippines.^[61]
January 28 – The Philippine Statistics Authority announces that the country's GDP contracted by 9.5% in 2020, the biggest GDP contraction since World War II.^[62]^[63]
March 8 – Dito Telecommunity commences commercial operations in selected cities in Visayas and Mindanao, entering the country's telecommunications industry.^[64]
March 25 – The Overseas Filipino Bank is given the first digital-only bank license in the Philippines, by the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country's central bank.^[65]
May 26 – Monde Nissin makes the largest initial public offering in the Philippines announcing that it has raised ₱48.6 billion in its debut in the Philippine Stock Exchange.^[66] The IPO was filed on March 4.^[67]

Entertainment and culture

March 27 – Samantha Bernardo wins the title of 1st runner-up in the Miss Grand International 2020 pageant which was held in Bangkok, Thailand.^[68]
April 5 – Kelley Day wins the title of 1st runner-up in the Miss Eco International 2020 pageant which was held in Egypt.^[69]
May 17 – Rabiya Mateo finishes in the Top 21 at Miss Universe 2020 in Florida, USA.^[70]
July 11 – Hannah Arnold wins Miss International Philippines 2021, Samantha Alexandra Panlilio wins Miss Grand International Philippines 2021, Cinderella Faye Obenita wins Miss Intercontinental Philippines 2021, and Maureen Montagne wins Globe Philippines 2021.
August 8 – Naelah Alshorbaji wins Miss Philippines Earth 2021 via virtual coronation. She represents the Philippines at Miss Earth 2021 on November 21.
August 21 – Dindi Pajares finishes in the Top 12 at Miss Supranational 2021 in Malopolska, Poland.
September 30 – Beatrice Gomez of Cebu City wins Miss Universe Philippines 2021 and represents the Philippines at Miss Universe 2021 on December 13. Gomez is the first openly lesbian to win the pageant.^[71]

Sports

January 25 – Volleyball: An election is held to determine the set of officials to head the Philippine National Volleyball Federation, a new national sports association (NSA) for volleyball formed in a bid to end the dispute between the Philippine Volleyball Federation and the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas over which organization is the legitimate NSA for volleyball in the country.^[72]
August 8 – The Philippine Olympic delegation finishes 2020 Summer Olympics campaign with 50th overall leaderboard after won 1 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze medal. The biggest haul in the country's history in the Games and the top ranking in Southeast Asia.^[73]

Deaths