Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 23) — Two people died in the magnitude-5.1 quake that hit Leyte Wednesday.

Supt. Elma Delos Santos, spokesperson of the Ormoc City Police, identified the victims as 51-year-old Maria Contreras Colasito from Barangay Naungan, and 70-year-old Rodita Baloro from Barangay San Jose. Both barangays are in Ormoc City.

Colasito fell and hit her head on the pavement during the quake, while Baloro suffered a heart attack a few minutes after the tremor, police told CNN Philippines.

The earthquake struck at 6:26 a.m., five kilometers (kms) from Albuera, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.

Phivolcs said that aftershocks are expected from Wednesday's quake, but no damage is expected. No reports of injuries have yet been received from authorities.

The quake had reported intensities of 5 (strong) in Ormoc City; 4 (moderately strong) in Pastrana, Leyte; and 3 (weak) in Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte, it added. Intensity measures the strength of the shaking from an earthquake.

The quake prompted the Ormoc City government to suspend classes in all levels. Ormoc, the provincial capital of Leyte, is 21 kms north from Albuera.

Wednesday's quake comes more than six weeks after a magnitude-6.5 quake killed two and injured 72 in Jaro, Leyte last July 6.

Ormoc and some neighboring towns were placed under a state of calamity on August 7 to hasten relief and rehabilitation there.

READ: Two dead, 72 injured in Leyte quake

Jaro is 30 km north of Albuera.

CNN Philippines' Senior Correspondent Jun Tariman contributed to this report.</s>TWO persons died while several houses were damaged by a 5.1–magnitude earthquake that rocked Leyte at 6:26 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC).

“I am asking the DILG [Department of Interior and Local Government] and DoH [Department of Health] for verification whether it was related to the earthquake or not. They are the ones authorized to release such statements,” NDRRMC spokesman Romina Marasigan told reporters in a text message.

The victims, residents of Ormoc City, were identified as Maria Colasito, 51, and Rosita Baloro, 70.

Marasigan said Colasito, of Barangay Naungan suffered an intracranial injury and based on the report, has a mental disorder while Baloro of Barangay San Jose, suffered cardiac arrest.

The tremor also rendered 56 houses slightly damaged in Barangay Altavista, Ormoc City just over a month after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake jolted Leyte and other parts of Visayas on July 6.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the quake’s epicenter was five kilometers northeast of Albuera and was recorded to be tectonic in origin.

It was felt strongest in Ormoc City at Intensity 5, Pastrana town at Intensity 4 and Tacloban City and Palo town at Intensity 3.

A Phivolcs bulletin added that damages are not expected while aftershocks are expected to shake some nearby towns and provinces.

Meanwhile, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said that power transmission services remain stable despite the 5.1-magnitude earthquake.

“The grid remains intact as there has been no reported cases of power interruptions,” the NGCP statement said.

Albuera town is located within the Central Leyte Fault line stretching from Villalon village in Calubian, Leyte and ending in San Francisco, Southern Leyte.</s>(Reuters) - A major undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 struck southeast of the Philippines on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The quake was measured at a depth of 617 km (380 miles), the USGS said.</s>MANILA (Reuters) - A bombing wounded 33 people during an amateur boxing match in a central Philippines province, the government said on Thursday, the second attack on a public place by unknown perpetrators in less than a week.

An 81-millimetre mortar round was detonated remotely by cellphone during the amateur bout outside a shopping mall in Leyte province late on Wednesday. Police said no suspects had been identified and no group had claimed responsibility.

It followed a Christmas Eve grenade explosion outside a Catholic church that wounded 16 people on the southern island of Mindanao, a Muslim-dominated region where a long-running insurgency is being fought.

Police said there was no indication the two attacks were linked.

President Rodrigo Duterte has warned of the threat of a proliferation of festering Islamist militancy in the Philippines and an infiltration by the Islamic State militant group if offensives to drive its fighters out of Iraq and Syria succeed.

Duterte has warned of vulnerability in the southern Philippines, where some splinter groups have pledged allegiance to Islamic State and only a small stretch of sea separates predominantly Muslim areas of the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.</s>A boy sits at a window as he celebrates Christmas Day at the evacuation center before Typhoon Nock-ten is expected to strike Legazpi City, Albay province, central Philippines December 25, 2016.

MANILA (Reuters) - A typhoon slammed into central Philippines late on Sunday, bringing strong winds and heavy rains and cutting off power, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, weather officials and radio reports said.

Typhoon Nock-ten was packing maximum sustained winds of 185 kph (115 mph) with gusts up to 255 kph when it made landfall over Catanduanes province, which was under the highest storm alert, on the Bicol peninsula on Sunday evening.

The typhoon made a second landfall over Camarines Sur province, then weakened slightly with winds of 175 kph but gusts at 290 kph, the weather bureau said.

"We continue to pray, stay positive and stay alert. Brownout in a lot of areas already," Camarines Sur Governor Miguel Luis Villafuerte said in a post on his Instagram account.

Communication lines have been cut in some areas, radio reports said.

Around 218,000 people fled to evacuation centres after authorities warned of storm surges and flooding in coastal villages and low-lying areas.

Nock-ten could make another landfall early on Monday while moving west faster at 20 kph, from 15 kph previously, and crossing the provinces of Camarines Norte, Southern Quezon, Laguna, Batangas, and Cavite, weather forecasters said.

The typhoon's eye will be near Metro Manila on Monday afternoon, they said.

Land, sea and air travel has been suspended in some areas, leaving stranded thousands of people heading home for Christmas in the mostly Christian country.

In 2013, more than 6,000 people were killed and 200,000 homes destroyed when Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest-ever storm to make landfall in the Philippines, hit the central islands of Leyte and Samar.

About 20 major typhoons pass through the Philippines each year. Since 1948, at least seven have hit during the Christmas period.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has approved the sale to the government of the Philippines of two Sea Giraffe radars and related equipment, support and training for about $25 million, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said on Wednesday.

The Philippines requested the sale to improve monitoring of its territorial waters. The radars will be installed on two Philippines Navy ships and the principle contractors will be VSE Corp and Saab.

The radar sale will allow the Philippines to beef up its maritime security and helps reinforce an important U.S. regional security relationship at a time when Washington is concerned about what it sees as China's overreaching claims in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has for decades been one of the closest U.S. allies in Asia, but the relationship has been strained recently as President Rodrigo Duterte has voiced disdain and mistrust of Washington while U.S. officials are worried over potential human rights violations under his government.

The U.S. Congress was informed of the radar sale and did not object.

A recent sale of assault rifles to the Philippines' national police was blocked in the U.S. Senate over concerns that they could be used against civilians.</s>KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — Malaysia suffered a setback in their lawn bowls gold medal quest when they were defeated by Philippines in the men’s fours final 16-14 at the National Lawn Bowls Centre, in Bukit Kiara here today.

The national men’s fours are Daeng Dhadyry Dahasry, Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple, Safuan Said and Zulhilmie Redzuan while Curte Robert Guarin, Emmanuel Portacio, Leoncio Carreon Jr and Ronald Lising represented Philippines.

It was close match between the countries before Philippines led Malaysia 13-10 at the 14th ends.

At the 16th ends, both Philippines and Malaysia added one more point top keep the score at 14-11.

The match ended 16-14 in favour of Philippines at the 18th ends.

National team captain Safuan said the loss to Philippines did not mean the squad did not perform well even though there were mistakes at the 13th ends

“We will continue to do our best for the rest of the campaign,” he told reporters after the event. The national men’s fours were given the top rank followed by Philippines, Thailand and Brunei. The medals were presented by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (ASUM) president Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim. — Bernama</s>MANILA, Aug 24, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - The "Philippines in View 2017" Pay-TV conference, hosted by regional industry body CASBAA, on 30 August 2017 at the Marriott Hotel in Manila, will highlight the country's role as a continuing growth market for digital video in all its forms. However, the Philippines is also a market likely to face growing challenges from online video piracy as broadband infrastructure improves.At the Conference, CASBAA will launch its "Philippines in View 2017" Market Report which encompasses an exclusive of study of younger urban consumers in the Philippines.The CASBAA study reconfirms that Filipino youth audiences in particular, continue to seek out unauthorised, pirated video content. Some 86 percent of survey respondents admitted to downloading pirated content from flash memory sticks. "But that will change -- and soon", said John Medeiros, CASBAA's Chief Policy Officer "as this is relatively low-tech".The study revealed that the vast majority of consumers in the Philippines said they would consume more (legal and pirated) TV content as soon as they can secure improved internet connectivity."And that's why the TV industry in the Philippines, and around the world, urgently needs to run fast and work hard to place high-quality, convenient and legal content options in front of consumers to prevent the pirate syndicates from easily winning them over", said Medeiros.As a curtain raiser, the conference will be keynoted by Carlo Katigbak, President & CEO, ABS-CBN Corporation.The day-long program, features C-Suite speakers drawn from the leading Cable TV and Direct-to-Home satellite TV systems in the Philippines, as well as the most powerful regional satellite operators, fixed line and wireless broadband distributors.With content creation and distribution at the sharp-end of consumer relationships, discussions on accurate audience measurement will play a central role during the information packed day.The packed agenda will also include a review of the fast-expanding mobile broadband environment in the Philippines, the development of local-language OTT services and the central role served by satellite services in a country with more than 6,000 islands.For further information on the "CASBAA Philippines in View 2017" Conference on 30 August and its 2017 findings on Pay-TV piracy in the Philippines contact pr@casbaa.com. For the full programme of speakers, topics and leading event sponsors click here. http://casbaaevent.com/events/casbaa-philippines-in-view/About CASBAAEstablished in 1991, CASBAA is the association for digital multichannel TV, content, platforms, advertising and video delivery across a variety of geographic markets throughout the Asia-Pacific. CASBAA's members reach over 500 million connections within a regional footprint ranging from China to Australasia, Japan to Pakistan. For more information, visit www.casbaa.com.Source: CASBAAContact:Copyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.</s>(UPDATED) The quake's epicenter was located just northeast of Albuera, Leyte, with a depth of focus at just 5 kilometers below ground, Phivolcs says

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines (UPDATED) – Two persons died in Ormoc City after a shallow magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Leyte on Wednesday morning, August 23.

The quake's epicenter was located just northeast of Albuera, Leyte, with a depth of focus at just 5 kilometers below ground, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in its bulletin.

Intensity V was felt in Ormoc City and Albuera town; Intensity IV in Pastrana town; and Intensity III in Palo and Tacloban City, the agency said.

Ormoc City Administrator Vince Emnas told Rappler that resident Maria Colasito, 51 years old, of Barangay Naungan died due to a head injury after falling. Meanwhile, Rosita Baloro, a 70-year-old resident of Barangay San Jose, died after suffering a heart attack.

Around 56 houses in Brgy Altavista in the city were slightly damaged because of the earthquake, as reported by barangay chairperson Myrna Mangle.

There are no damage expected, but aftershocks are expected, Phivolcs added. – with reports from Jazmin Bonifacio / Rappler.com</s>TWO people died after a 5.1 magnitude quake jolted Albuera, Leyte early morning on Wednesday, August 23.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded the epicenter of the earthquake northeast of Albuera at 6:26 AM.

Vince Emnas, Ormoc City Administrator, confirmed two people died in the quake.

51-year old Maria Colasito of Barangay Naungan in Ormoc City suffered a fatal head injury. While a resident of Barangay San Jose, 70-year old Rosita Baloro, died after suffering a heart attack.

Emnas said the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office has yet to verify reports of an injured person.

He also added that the quake resulted to minor infrastructure damages.

“Dili kaayo grabe og impact ang earthquake because it happened very early. People were still at home. So, empty pa ang streets, ang mga schools. Ang hospital ug hotels lang nato ang naghimo og precautionary evacuations (The earthquake didn’t have a huge impact because it happened very early. People were still at home. The streets and schools were still empty. But hospitals and hotels made precautionary evacuations),” Emnas said.

Whie Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte felt the earthquake at Intensity 3.

Benjamin Pongos, Jr., the acting mayor of Ormoc City, announced the suspension of classes in all levels in the city.

Ormoc and parts of Leyte are still reeling from a strong 6.5 magnitude quake in July.
Two people die in an earthquake in Leyte, Philippines.