Here’s a quick roundup of today’s top stories:

Leon (international name: Kong-rey) has intensified into a typhoon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) reported on Tuesday.

Fourteen of the 125 reported deaths due to Severe Tropical Storm Kristine (international name: Trami) were already validated, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Tuesday.

The agency said in a situational report released at 8 a.m. on October 29 that the death count it received increased to 125, but 111 of them are still subject to verification.

Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson believes the Senate was “invaded” by former  President Rodrigo Duterte.

Lacson was commenting on Duterte’s conduct during Monday’s Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee probe into his administration’s bloody war on drugs.

The Philippine Senate has not yet received any formal communication from International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators regarding Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, according to Senate President Chiz Escudero.

At a Kapihan sa Senado forum on Tuesday, Escudero was asked whether ICC investigators could use the revelations made by Duterte in the October 28 Senate probe into the previous administration’s bloody drug war.

Two Chinese fishing vessels were monitored along the country’s east coast within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), according to Navy spokesperson for West Philippine Sea (WPS) Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad.

Trinidad confirmed this in response to questions about the Chinese vessels, though he stated that further details on their exact location or the time of monitoring are still pending.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday filed material misrepresentation charges against dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.

The poll body lodged the charges before the Regional Trial Court in Tarlac, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said.

The index crime rate across the country has dropped by 61.87 percent since July 2022, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP).

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In a statement released on Tuesday, the PNP said it recorded 83,059 incidents from July 1, 2022, to July 28, 2024, compared to 217,830 incidents reported in the same period from 2016 to 2018.

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