March 10, 2008: After a 17-year trial, Imelda Marcos, widow of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is acquitted on 32 charges of illegally transferring money out of the Philippines during her husband's rule. Marcos had been accused of stashing away $863 million US in Swiss bank accounts. Of the 901 charges filed against Imelda Marcos in the early 1990s, only 10 remain outstanding.
Feb. 27, 2006: Over the weekend, police arrest critics of the government and raid the offices of The Daily Tribune, a newspaper critical of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The commander of the Philippines marines, Maj.-Gen. Renato Miranda is removed from command. Police file charges of rebellion against 16 people. About 100 protesters barge into the House of Representatives, but are pushed back by police.
Feb. 24, 2006: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares a state of national emergency, saying she crushed an attempted military coup. Police use water cannons and batons to break up a rally of about 5,000 marking the 25th anniversary of civil uprising against late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
» CBC STORY: Arroyo declares state of emergency in Philippines
Feb. 20, 2006: Scratching and rhythmic tapping noises are heard at the site of an elementary school buried under mud on Leyte Island. More than 250 students and teachers were in the school at the time of the landslide.
» CBC STORY: Rescuers hear sounds at Philippine landslide site
Feb. 17, 2006: A mudslide wipes out the farming village of Guinsaugon on Leyte Island. Initial estimates indicate that 1,500 people are missing.
» CBC STORY: 1,500 missing as Philippine village buried
July 17, 2005: Silvestre Afable, the Philippine communications director, quits President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's cabinet without explanation. He is the 11th member of the cabinet to leave since the Arroyo election scandal erupted.
» CBC STORY:
Another minister quits Arroyo's cabinet
July 8, 2005: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo refuses to quit and demands that members of her cabinet resign so she can appoint a new one.
» CBC STORY:
Philippines' Arroyo says she won't quit
July 1, 2005: Thousands of protesters march through Manila calling for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
» CBC STORY:
Protesters call for Arroyo's ouster
June 27, 2005: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo apologizes in a nationally televised address after admitting to calling an elections commissioner during the vote count for the 2004 election. She denies rigging the vote, however.
» CBC STORY:
Philippines president apologizes to nation
April 24, 2005: Alicia Ramos, a senior Philippine diplomat, is murdered by three men who break into her Manila home.
» CBC STORY:
Top Philippine diplomat murdered
March 15, 2005: Police use tear gas and guns to end a standoff in a high security prison in Manila where Islamic militants staged a failed jailbreak. At least 24 people are killed.
» CBC STORY:
More than 24 dead after Philippines standoff ends
Dec. 4, 2004: Powerful rainstorms and a typhoon in the northeast cause floods and mudslides, killing hundreds of people.
» CBC STORY:
Philippines still battling after-effects of storms
July 12, 2004: The Philippines agrees to withdraw its troops from Iraq "as soon as possible," to try to meet the demands of the kidnappers of Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz.
» CBC STORY:
Philippines to pull Iraq force 'ASAP' to save hostage
June 20, 2004: After six weeks of vote-counting, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is declared the winner of the election for the president of the Philippines over Fernando Poe Jr., a film star and supporter of former president Joseph Estrada. The opposition claims its complaints of electoral fraud are ignored.
» CBC STORY:
Six weeks later Arroyo declared winner of Philippines presidential vote
July 26, 2003: Arroyo orders the military to arrest nearly 300 soldiers suspected of planning a coup against the government. The soldiers, which include 70 army and navy officers, later surrender, after taking over a shopping complex and rigging it with explosives.
» CBC STORY:
Philippines on coup alert
March 20, 2003: Arroyo says the Philippines is part of the "coalition of the willing" supporting the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
» CBC STORY:
Japan, Philippines back U.S. attack
March 3, 2003: A bomb hidden in a backpack at an airport terminal in the southern Philippines explodes, killing 19 people and wounding 147. The military blames the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, but the group denies responsibility
» CBC STORY:
Airport bombing kills 19 in the Philippines
Nov. 28, 2002: Canada, Australia and the European Union close their embassies in Manila after receiving warnings about a possible upsurge in terrorist activity in the Philippines. Arroyo says the source of the warnings is a police officer who acted without permission. All three embassies later reopened.
» CBC STORY:
Canada, Australia warn of Philippines terrorist threat
June 7, 2002: Government forces attempt to rescue hostages taken by members of the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf. A U.S. missionary and a Filipino nurse, both hostages, are killed in the ensuing gun battle.
» CBC STORY:
U.S. hostage killed during rescue effort in the Philippines
May 27, 2001: Three Americans and 17 Filipinos are kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf during a raid on a resort. Several of the hostages escaped in June, while two others were found dead.
» CBC STORY:
Hostages seized in the Philippines
May 1, 2001: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares a state of rebellion. The army and police begin arresting supporters of former president Joseph Estrada. The Philippine government says opposition politicians are responsible for attempts to overthrow Arroyo. The declaration follows pro-Estrada demonstrations in the streets of Manila in which three people are killed. Arroyo lifted the state of rebellion five days later.
» CBC STORY:
Philippines arresting politicians for sedition
Jan. 20, 2001: Vice-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is sworn in as the Philippines' new head of state after President Joseph Estrada is ousted. Estrada and his family leave the presidential palace shortly thereafter.
The ouster comes a day after several key members of Estrada cabinet resigned and the military also called for him to step down.
Estrada later denied he resigned as president and challenged the legitimacy of the Arroyo administration. The Supreme Court twice upheld its legitimacy.
» CBC STORY:
Philippines gets new president
Jan. 16, 2001: At the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada, the entire prosecution team quits after the Senate votes to block access to bank account records, evidence the prosecution says would prove bribery allegations against Estrada. Thousands of angry demonstrators take to the streets, demanding Estrada resign.
» CBC STORY:
Senate vote in Estrada trial throws Philippines into chaos
Nov. 13, 2000: Estrada is impeached and faces charges of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from gangsters running illegal gambling operations.
» CBC STORY:
'Resign Erap!' Philippines president Estrada impeached
May 11, 1998: Former movie star Joseph Estrada is elected president. Estrada was the popular choice for president but not the preferred candidate of the outgoing president or the political establishment.
1998: The Philippines celebrates 100 years of independence.
June 30, 1992: Fidel Ramos, President Corazon Aquino's former secretary of defence, is elected president. While Aquino is credited for restoring democracy, Ramos is credited for establishing economic stability in the Philippines. Among those who later complimented Ramos's competent performance as president is Prime Minister Jean Chrétien who said Ramos should seek to amend the 1987 constitution to allow himself a second term.
Feb. 26, 1986: Corazon "Cory" C. Aquino, the widow of Benigno Aquino, assumes the presidency after winning the election amid charges of vote buying and ballot tampering by President Ferdinand Marcos. After 20 years of dictatorship, the country is bankrupt and impoverished.
Marcos flees the country, eventually being given sanctuary in Hawaii. He died in 1989.
Aquino immediately restores the basic civil liberties of free speech, freedom of assembly and a free press. She also makes major overhauls to government and the military, ousting supporters of Marcos. The country also gets a new constitution, which, among other things, limits the presidency to a single six-year term.
However, the Reformed Armed Forces Movement, the same people who fought to get Aquino into office, attempt six coups against the her, criticizing the slow pace of promised social reforms.
Aug. 21, 1983: After three years in exile, opposition leader Benigno Aquino returns to the Philippines only to be assassinated by a military escort at the Manila International Airport. Two million people attend his funeral, making it the largest political demonstration in the country's history.
The assassination and the failed attempts to investigate the case lead to calls for the resignation of President Ferdinand Marcos.
1981: President Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law, although all of the orders and decrees issued under the law remain in effect. An election is scheduled for June 16 but the opposition boycotts it, enabling Marcos to win a huge majority and another six-year term in office.
November 1977: After five years in jail, a military court finds former senator Benigno Aquino guilty of subversion and sentences him to death. However, he is too prominent to execute. In May 1980, Aquino is exiled to the U.S. for medical treatment after developing heart disease while in prison.
1972: President Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law. Senator Benigno Aquino is among the first of about 30,000 opposition politicians, journalists, critics and activists arrested.
1965: Ferdinand Marcos wins the presidency. He was re-elected in 1969.
1945: U.S. forces finish invasion of the Philippines and return independence to the country the following year with Manuel Roxas taking the presidency.
1942: Japanese forces invade the Philippines.
In 1901, an agreement is reached with United States establishing colonial rule.
1898: Spain withdraws from Cuba and hands over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States, marking the beginning of independence in the Philippines.
