NewsTracker Answers for week of Nov. 25, 2024

Q: Philipines Vice President Sara Duterte said Saturday that she has hired an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife and the House of Representatives speaker if she herself is killed. Where is the Southeast Asian nation of the Philippines?

Circle the area on this map


Q: Duterte and Marcos are both children of former Philippine presidents. They won election as “unity” candidates in 2022, but their alliance fell apart this year over policy differences. Which politician strongly favors the United States over China?

A. Duterte

B. Marcos


B. Marcos has taken a much harder stand against China’s maritime actions than his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, the father of Sara Duterte. Marcos also allowed American troops access to more facilities in the Philippines and expanded joint military exercises with the United States. Duterte avoided confrontations with China, and he harshly criticized Marcos over U.S. ties.


Q: Where are Chinese and Philippine forces confronting each other?

A. Coral Sea

B. Philippine Sea

C. South China Sea

D. Yellow Sea


C. China has claimed sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea which is west of the 7,641 islands of the Philippines. Besides driving Filipino fisherman from the sea, Chinese forces have fought with Philippine forces. China also has territorial disputes with with Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei in the South China Sea.


Q: Former President Rodrigo Duterte is being investigated by the International Criminal Court for possible crimes against humanity during his tenure because of killings of thousands of ...

A. Drug suspects

B. Muslim protesters

C. Political demonstrators

D. Socialist supporters


A. Duterte’s police-enforced anti-drugs crackdown as a city mayor and later as president left thousands of mostly petty drug suspects dead. Duterte admitted last month that when he was mayor he had a “death squad” of gangsters he coerced into killing drug dealers. He also said he told police officers to "encourage" suspects to fight back so they could justify the killings


Q: Sara Duterte has threatened to dig up the body of Marcos’ father and toss it into the sea. Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines for two decades as president and then as dictator before being ousted a 1986 revolution. What nation did Filipino rebels fight for independence?

A. Japan

B. Spain

C. United States

D. All of the above


D. After 333 years of colonial rule, the Philippine Revolution against Spain began in 1896, Rebels declared independence shortly before the United States bought the country after the Spanish-American War. The rebels then fought the U.S. takeover for three years. Filipinos fought a guerrilla war against Japanese invaders in World War II, and gained independence after the war in 1946.