A fire swept through a hotel in a Philippine resort city early Friday, killing seven people, including three Americans, three Filipinos and a South Korean, authorities said.

Millions of Catholic devotees swept through the Philippine capital on Wednesday in a spectacular show of passion for a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ that many believe holds miraculous powers.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino insisted on Wednesday that civilians had the right to carry guns for self-defense, after a series of deadly shootings prompted calls for a total firearms ban.

A U.S. drone believed to be used for reconnaissance was recovered on Monday in waters off the central Philippines, police and naval authorities said.

At least three police personnel were among 13 suspected criminals who were gunned down in a shootout with Philippine security forces at a highway checkpoint, officials said Monday.

Philippine army special forces and police killed 13 suspected criminals in a fierce gunbattle Sunday on the main northern island of Luzon in the latest violence to erupt in the country in the last week.

A house caretaker who reloaded the pistol of a man who went on a shooting rampage near Manila that left nine people dead is facing multiple murder charges, officials said Saturday.

A gunman with a semi-automatic pistol killed seven people and wounded 11 others during a drug-fuelled rampage in a slum near the Philippine capital on Friday, authorities said.

A Catholic couple has asked the Philippines' top court to stop a historic birth control law, their lawyer said Thursday, in the first of many legal challenges church leaders have vowed against the measure.

The death of a girl hit by celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve sparked calls Thursday for stricter gun controls in the Philippines, where unlicensed weapons are widely blamed for rampant violence.