On December 31, 2015, Peru’s Minister of Production passed a resolution that banned fishing of manta rays, among other stipulations. The resolution requires that mantas that are caught must be released immediately back into the ocean. The largest known populations of giant manta rays live in Peru and Ecuador. Ecuador began protecting manta rays in 2010, and Peru’s new ban adds to this protection. Other countries, including the Republic of Maldives, Mexico, and the Philippines, have passed regulations for manta ray protection.

The government of the Philippines stated that it plans to challenge a ban on GMO imports that was ordered by the country’s top court. The announcement comes after the court’s ban rattled global soybean markets. The Supreme Court struck down a 2002 regulation that permitted GMO imports and instituted a temporary ban until new regulations are formed. The Philippines imports approximately 2.2 million tons of soybeans each year, largely from the United States, the vast majority of which is genetically modified.

In a continuation of the international conflict regarding territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the Philippines brought an action against China for damaging the region's ecology, in part by dredging the seafloor and constructing artificial islands. Arguing in front of a tribunal of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Philippines alleged that China has encroached on its exclusive economic zone, allowed endangered species to be harvested, and destroyed reefs.

Protestors in the Philippines destroyed a trial plot of "Golden Rice," a strain developed to combat vitamin A deficiency. The crop was a few weeks away from being submitted to authorities for safety evaluation, but a group of roughly 400 local farmers and protestors attacked the field and uprooted all the plants. The rice, which has been given extra genes that turn on the plant's ability to produce beta carotene, first entered development 20 years ago with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation.