ASEAN has come a long way since the five foreign ministers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand came together in Bangkok in August 1967 to establish an organization that would promote economic and social cooperation. Since then, ASEAN has evolved from a loose and informal association into a Community of ten states encompassing political-security, economic, and socio-cultural ...

A perennial policy challenge facing the Philippines is job generation. Despite the recent trend of economic expansion, the economy has fallen short of creating more and better jobs. For its part, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has crafted its strategic plans to include job generation in line with the economic security pillar. Back in 2002, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople had high ...

United States President Barack Obama sought to re-invigorate the US’ primacy in the Asia Pacific with a speech to the Australian Parliament in November 17, 2011, announcing a new foreign policy towards the region. Dubbed the “rebalancing strategy,” this plan sought to expand American presence within the Asia-Pacific by forging closer military, trade, and people-to-people ties with various states ...

So why should Filipinos care about the French Presidential Election? The outcome of this election will not only determine who will be the next president of France, it could also decide the fate of the EU, and by extension, the global economy at large.

The Philippines takes over the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2017 coinciding with the organization’s historic 50th anniversary. The Philippines only had the opportunity to chair ASEAN four times in five decades. This is understandable in an organization which started only to hold annual summits after almost three decades of existence.

Since the change of administration in the United States, there has been declining enthusiasm to move forward the Joint Cooperation Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the Iran nuclear deal. US President Donald Trump’s vocal, antagonistic stance on Iran sparked an exchange of rhetoric and provocative actions and reactions between the US and Iran, with Trump going as far as calling the agreement “the worst deal ...

The Philippine Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2017 is an opportune time to revive the National Branding Council proposal made by the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) in 20121 to build the international image and reputation of the country. Nation Branding is an important tool in managing a country’s identity across the globe forming part of public diplomacy (PD). PD covers aspects such as ...

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won the elections in July in convincing fashion, effectively ensuring policies and initiatives es-poused by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet little to no resistance in the Diet. LDP managed to capture majority of the seats in both the House of Representatives and House of Councillors, an unprecedented achievement in Japanese electoral politics. With the Diet ...

In December 2016, Philippine Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez expressed the country’s decision to put its full weight behind the Asian trade pact Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) after President Rodrigo R. Duterte criticized the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement by highlighting the restrictive nature of its provision on intellectual property rights covering pharmaceuticals. ...

The word kafala has two distinct meanings in classical Arabic: to guarantee and to take care of. The kafala system is a timehonored tradition of hospitality, which lays down obligations in the treatment and protection of foreign guests. The customary grant of protection of guests originated from the Bedouins. It is a noble principle, but contemporary practice has been marred by criticisms over the ...