Philippine president to deliver key speech in shadow of corruption scandal

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is to deliver his annual state of the nation speech with a bleak backdrop of a major corruption scandal that he exposed last year but has implicated his key allies; his estranged vice president’s impeachment tr...ByJIM GOMEZ Associated PressMANILA, Philippines -- Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will deliver his annual state of the nation speech Monday with a bleak backdrop of a major corruption scandal that he exposed last year but has implicated his key allies; his estranged vice president’s impeachment trial; and the global economic fallout from a resurgent war in Iran.More than 23,000 police were deployed to secure the House of Representatives in suburban Quezon city, where Marcos will deliver his penultimate annual address before his six-year term ends in mid-2028. Key roads to the presidential palace in Manila were barricaded with barbed wire and riot police to deter protesters.Security concerns were heightened after a small homemade bomb exploded before dawn on Monday near the gate of the Department of Justice in Manila, causing no injuries or major damage. Separately, bomb parts were found near the Senate in suburban Pasay ...