Philippine President Benigno Aquino on Tuesday ruled out any attempt to seek a second term, a highly controversial proposition that would have required the rewriting of the constitution.

Aquino in August had hinted at such a possibility. But he quickly ran into opposition in a nation still haunted by the dictatorial rule of the late president Ferdinand Marcos.

A U.S. Marine accused of killing a transgender woman in the Philippines said there was no basis to charge him with murder, his lawyer told state prosecutors on Monday, in the latest development in the politically charged case.

Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, who is detained at the Philippines' military headquarters in Manila, did not attend the preliminary hearing in Olongapo, but his lawyer filed a motion to "declare the absence of probable cause for murder or any other crime".

Two Germans freed after being held for six months in the southern Philippines by a militant group that threatened to behead one of them if ransom was not paid were flown to Manila on Saturday under the care of their embassy, a Philippine military spokesman said.

Following their release Friday, Stefan Okonek and Henrike Dielen were flown to Manila under arrangements made by the German Embassy, said Maj. Gen. Domingo Tutaan. The two have not spoken publicly about their ordeal and German diplomats could not be reached for comment.

Two Germans held hostage by Islamic militants on remote southern Philippine islands for six months were released on Friday, the Philippine military said.

The hostages, a man in his 70s and his female partner, in her 50s, were released on Jolo island, armed forces chief General Gregorio Catapang told AFP.

Relatives of a transgender Filipino allegedly murdered by a U.S. Marine angrily demanded Thursday that the accused be thrown in a Philippine prison.

The family and protesters who took to the streets Wednesday criticized the Manila government for allegedly dragging its heels over the weekend killing that threatens to test the longstanding defense ties between Manila and Washington.

Natural disasters claimed over 22,000 lives last year, with Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines the deadliest of all, the Red Cross said Thursday.

In its annual report on disasters, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned that the outlook was bleak.

The Philippines said Tuesday it will seek custody of a U.S. Marine currently detained on a war ship under suspicion of the murder of a local transgender person as police readied murder charges against him.

The body of Jeffrey Laude, also known as Jennifer, was found by hotel staff in the northern port city of Olongapo late Sunday, less than an hour after the victim checked into a room with an unidentified blonde male.

The Islamic State jihadist group says that it has given Yazidi women and children captured in northern Iraq to its fighters as spoils of war, boasting it had revived slavery.

The latest issue of its propaganda magazine Dabiq released on Sunday was the first clear admission by the organisation that it was holding and selling Yazidis as slaves.

Lava is again flowing out of Mayon, the Philippines' most active volcano, raising fears an eruption could be imminent, authorities said Sunday.

The government has already evacuated around 63,000 people living inside a six-kilometer (3.7-mile) danger zone around the volcano, after it began to spew out white smoke and some lava last month.

The United States on Thursday warned its citizens in the Philippines to remain vigilant after local authorities said they had foiled a plot by an Islamic militant group to bomb the nation's capital.

"The Embassy wishes to remind all U.S. citizens to remain vigilant and maintain an appropriate level of personal security in all circumstances," the U.S. mission in Manila said in a security message posted on its website.