2018 in the Philippines details events of note that happened in the Philippines in 2018.
Incumbents
Events
January
- January 1 â Republic Act No. 10963, widely known as the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law (TRAIN Law), takes effect.
- January 5 â Former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes is released from detention after the Court of Appeals resolved in his favor a petition in connection with his murder case for the killing of broadcaster Dr. Gerry Ortega in 2011.
- January 22 â Mayon Volcano's alert status is raised to Alert Level 4 due to intensified volcanic activities. The day before, the volcano shoots to to the air and generated ash plumes that reached above the summit. The province of Albay declares a state of calamity days earlier on January 16 due to continuous volcanic activity.
- January 23 â The Supreme Court approves the funding for the Motor Vehicle License Plate Standardization Program (MVPSP), clearing the way for the release to motorists of 700,000 license plates turned over by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) as constitutional.
- January 25 â Police Officer 3 Carlos Baccali Bocaig, a survivor of the 2015 Mamasapano firefight, dies from a grenade explosion during a fireworks display in La Paz, Abra on the third anniversary of the clash.
- January 29 â The Office of the President orders a 90-day preventive suspension order against Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang for alleged grave misconduct and grave dishonesty for the unauthorized disclosures of the alleged bank transactions of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family.
- January 31:
- A total lunar eclipse coinciding with a supermoon and blue moon phenomenon is witnessed by many astronomers and skywatchers throughout the country.
- Rafael Baylosis, a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), together with his companion, are arrested in Quezon City.
February
March
April
May
- May 11 â The Supreme Court votes 8âÂÂ6 to grant a quo warranto petition by the Solicitor General against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, removing her from office for violating requirements on the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth.
- May 14 â The Barangay and Sangguiang Kabataan elections are held.
- May 18 â The National Museum of Natural History is opened to the public.
- May 30 â President Duterte declares his plan to make the entire island of Boracay a land reform area, saying that he wants to prioritize Boracay's first inhabitants. Duterte adds that his Cabinet and Congress may conduct a study on the possibility of putting up "only a small area for tourism" in Boracay and the majority of the island for land reform.
June
July
August
- August 10 â Maya-1, the first Filipino nanosatellite, is deployed from the International Space Station.
- August 16 â A passenger aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 operating as Xiamen Airlines Flight 8667, crashes at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Metro Manila, skidding off the runway while attempting to land. All 157 passengers and eight crew members evacuate the aircraft. However, numerous flights at NAIA are delayed or diverted.
- August 25 â Teresita De Castro is appointed by President Duterte as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, following the ouster of the Maria Lourdes Sereno via quo warranto, making her, according to de Castro, "technically" the first female Chief Justice. She takes office on August 28.
- August 28 â A bomb blast kills three and injures more than 30 others during the celebration of the Hamungaya Festival in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.
- August 31 â President Duterte signs Proclamation No. 572, voiding the amnesty of opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for supposed failure to "fulfill all the necessary requirements."
September
October
November
December
Holidays
On July 17, 2017, the government announced at least 18 Philippine holidays for 2018 as declared by virtue of Proclamation No. 269, series of 2017.
Regular
Special (Non-working)
In addition, several other places observe local holidays, such as the foundation of their town. These are also "special days."
Health
Sports
- January 25, Basketball â The inauguration of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League are held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
- February 3, Boxing â Jerwin Ancajas knocks out Mexico's Israel "Jiga" González in the 10th round to retain the International Boxing Federation junior bantamweight crown at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
- February 9âÂÂ25, Multi-sport â Two athletes represent the Philippines at the 2018 Winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Asa Miller competes at the alpine skiing â men's giant slalom event while Michael Christian Martinez, who previously represented the Philippines at the 2014 Winter Olympics, competes at the figure skating â men' singles event.
- February 23 â The Philippine Olympic Committee holds elections for the post of President and chairman after the 2016 elections results were declared null and void by the Pasig Regional Trial Court. The court requires Ricky Vargas and Cavite congressman Abraham Tolentino to be candidates for the post of President and chairman respectively. Vargas and Tolentino eventually won over incumbents Peping Cojuangco and Ting Ledesma.
- March 27, Association football â The Philippines national team secures qualification for the 2019 AFC Asian CupâÂÂthe team's first appearance in the tournamentâÂÂafter defeating Tajikistan 2âÂÂ1 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
- April 3âÂÂ8, Ice hockey â The Philippines hosts its first International Ice Hockey Federation-sanctioned event, the top division of the 2018 IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia at the SM Mall of Asia ice skating rink in Pasay, Metro Manila. Mongolia emerges as champions with Thailand finishing in second place. The Philippines finishes third in the tournament, despite tying in points with Mongolia and Thailand, due to head-to-head results.
- April 6, Basketball â The San Miguel Beermen claims the 2017âÂÂ18 PBA Philippine Cup title, their eighth PBA Philippine Cup title, after defeating the Magnolia Hotshots in 2OT, 4âÂÂ1 in the finals. Center June Mar Fajardo is named the PBA Finals MVP.
- May 3:
- VolleyballâÂÂThe De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers wins their 11th championship title, 3rd consecutive title in UAAP Season 80 against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws in three straight sets: 26âÂÂ24, 25âÂÂ20, and 26âÂÂ24. Lady Spikers libero Dawn Macandili is named the season's MVP, best scorer, best server, and the finals' MVP of the season.
- BasketballâÂÂThe San Miguel Alab Pilipinas pull off a rare five-game sweep after outclassing Mono Vampire, 102âÂÂ92, in the 2018 ABL finals at the Santa Rosa Sports Complex in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
- May 19âÂÂ21, Multi-sport â The 2018 Philippine National Games take place in Cebu City and various cities and towns across the Cebu province.
- June 8âÂÂ12, 3x3 basketball â The 2018 FIBA 3x3 World Cup take place at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
- July 2, Basketball â A bench-clearing brawl between the Australia and the Philippines men's national basketball teams take place during the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifier at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue. Four Australian players and nine Filipino players were suspended, Philippines head coach Chot Reyes and assistant coach Jong Uichico are sanctioned, while the Australian and Philippine national federations are fined by FIBA. The match is eventually abandoned in the third quarter with Australia winning by default due to lack of eligible Filipino players.
- July 25, Association football â CeresâÂÂNegros wins their second consecutive Philippines Football League title with three games to spare, following their 6âÂÂ1 victory over Global Cebu in the 22nd round.
- August 11, Association football â Philippines national team goalkeeper Neil Etheridge is the first Filipino (and first Southeast Asian) to play in the Premier League, the highest division in English football, as he plays in his club Cardiff City's first match in the league's season. The Philippines becomes the 113th nationality represented in the league.
- August 18âÂÂSeptember 2, Multi-sport â The Philippines send a delegation of 272 athletes in 31 sports to compete at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia. The Philippines place 19th overall in the medal tally of the games with 21 medals won, including four gold medals from weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz in the women's 53 kg event; golfers Yuka Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan, and Lois Kaye Go in the women's team event (as well as one other from Saso in the women's individual event); and skateboarder Margielyn Didal in the women's street event.
- September 1âÂÂOctober 27, Association football â The inaugural staging of the Copa Paulino AlcantaraâÂÂthe Philippines' domestic football cup competitionâÂÂis held. KayaâÂÂIloilo wins the tournament, after defeating Davao Aguilas 1âÂÂ0 in the final.
- November 13âÂÂDecember 6, Association football â The Philippines national team co-hosts the 2018 AFF Championship. The Philippines finished second in Group B, but lost to eventual champions Vietnam on 4âÂÂ2 aggregate in the semi-finals.
Entertainment and culture
- January 11 â The Securities and Exchange Commission revokes the certification of incorporation it issued to Rappler, Inc. after it found the issuance of the media firm of Philippine Depositary Receipts to Omidyar Network to be in violation of the Constitution's provisions on foreign ownership saying that Rappler "sold control" to foreigners.
- January 17 â Following the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines' revocation of Rappler's license, the National Bureau of Investigation of the Philippines launches a probe into Rappler.
- January 24 â Miss Philippines Katarina Rodriguez wins the 1st runner-up in the Miss Intercontinental 2017 pageant which was held in SUNRISE Garden Beach Resort in Hurghada, Egypt.
- February 24 â The Philippines has breached the world record for the largest art lesson conducted in a single day, with a total of 16,692 participants in a 45-minute art lesson held at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Diliman, Quezon City, that surpassing one posted by India with 14,135 people in 2014.
- February 26 â Miss Philippines Sophia Senoron was crowned as the first winner of the Miss Multinational 2018 pageant night, which was held in New Delhi, India.
- February 27 â The La Purisima Concepcion de la Virgen Maria or the Baclayon Church, which is among the heritage churches were destroyed after the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in 2013, was reopened to the public with a fully restored interior.
- March 3 â The 3 letters of Andrés Bonifacio to Emilio Jacinto, that narrating the massive cheating in the Philippines' first election, known as the Tejeros Convention held on March 22, 1897, together with the paintings of Jose T. Joya, Fernando Zobel, Vicente Manansala and Fernando Amorsolo were sold in an auction which was held in León Gallery in Makati.
- March 8 â The Asian Institute of Management (AIM) has launched ACCeSs@AIM, the first data science corporate laboratory in the Philippines.
- March 18 â Catriona Gray, a Filipino-Australian model, was crowned as Miss Universe Philippines 2018 during the coronation night of the Binibining Pilipinas 2018 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
- April 30 â The Department of Tourism receives their ad placement given to government-owned People's Television Network for airing it on Ben Tulfo's program Kilos Pronto produced by Bitag Media Unilimted, Inc. (in which the blocktimer sells its production time to the network); the contract was not supported with proper documents such as the Memorandum of Agreement and Certificate of Performance contrary to Section 4 of Presidential Decree 1445 and COA Circular No. 2012-001. An investigation on the alleged advertisement anomaly is being conducted by Malacanang, Tourism secretary Wanda Tulfo Teo said that Ben along with his brother Erwin Tulfo will return its ad placement from DOT to prove there was no anomaly in the advertisement deal and there was no conflict on the deal because it was a government-to-government deal between the DOT and PTV. Teo was later resigned on May 8 because of the controversy.
- May 6 â More than 1.5 million members join the Iglesia ni Cristo's (INC) Worldwide Walk to Fight Poverty along Roxas Boulevard and in selected sites around the Philippines and abroad to successfully break the Guinness World Records for the largest human sentence, largest charity walk in a single venue and largest charity walk in multiple venues in 24 hours.
- July 27âÂÂ29 â The fourth installment of Asia Pop Comic Convention was held on SMX Convention Center, Pasay, Manila which was attended by international stars, Tye Sheridan, Osric Chau, Finn Jones, Mike Colter and Mustafa Shakir.
- September 16âÂÂSharifa Akeel of Sultan Kudarat is a Muslim Maguindanaoan crowned as Mutya ng Pilipinas-Asia Pacific International 2018 during the coronation night held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
- December 17 â Miss Philippines Catriona Gray is crowned Miss Universe 2018, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand.
Deaths
<big>January</big>
<big>February</big>
<big>March</big>
<big>April</big>
<big>May</big>
- May 6 â Cirilo Bautista (b. 1941), writer, poet and National Artist
- May 8 â Edgardo B. Maranan (b. 1946), poet, essayist, fiction writer, playwright, translator and writer of children's stories
- May 11 â Jose Francisco Oliveros (b. 1946), Roman Catholic prelate and Bishop of Malolos (2004âÂÂ2018)
- May 12 â Eufranio Eriguel (b. 1959), former Congressman of the Second District of La Union
- May 13 â Edgardo Angara (b. 1934), former senator
- May 21 â Camilo Diaz Gregorio, (b. 1939), Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Bacolod (1989âÂÂ2000) and Prelate of Batanes (2003âÂÂ2017).
<big>June</big>
<big>July</big>
<big>August</big>
<big>September</big>
<big>October</big>
<big>November</big>
<big>December</big>
See also
References