February 2 – Cebu Pacific Flight 387 crashes on the slopes between Mount Sumagaya and Mount Lumot in Claveria, Misamis Oriental, killing all 104 people on board. It is once considered as the country's worst air accident since 1987, before another one happened in 2000.[1]
May 11 – Synchronized national and local elections were held.
June 6 – Carmela Arcolas–Gamboa of Negros Occidental, was crowned Miss Philippines Centennial 1998.
June 12 – The Philippines celebrates the centennial of its independence.
June 30 – Former Vice-President Joseph Estrada was sworn in as the 13th President of The Philippines, succeeding Fidel Valdez Ramos. Senator Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also sworn as Tenth Vice President of the Philippines as the latter's successor.
June–September – Dry spell felt in 16 regions amid country's four-year growth, with ₱9 billion worth of agricultural damages.
September 18 – Passenger ferry Princess of the Orient sinks off Fortune Island during a typhoon, killing 150.
October 14 – Typhoon Iliang causes massive damage to the provinces in Ilocos, Northern, and Central Luzon, that left 83 people dead, injuring 63 others and left ₱1.76 billion in damages.
December 3 – Asociacion de Damas Filipinas, an orphanage house in Paco, Manila was gutted by a fire that killed 28 people, mostly children who were admitted in the center.[2]
December 18 – Abu Sayyaf founder Abdurajak Janjalani dies in a police encounter.