The Philippines slipped seven spots in the International Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) 2021 World Competitiveness Report. We placed 52nd out of 64 countries in 2021, down from 45th the previous year.

It was the steepest decline in Asia. Read More

The first 100 days of any president elected into office is worth watching, as this can serve as a snapshot of how the leader will govern during his term. President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. had early on made headlines worldwide when he won the May 2022 National Elections. The political environment has become more interesting and inviting as the new administration pronounces sound fiscal management, good governance, food security, not giving an inch of Philippine territory, and all-inclusive recovery. Read More

A few days after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in early August 2022, the People’s Liberation Army’s Navy deployed warships and aircraft into waters and airspace near the self-governing island to show its growing naval prowess.   Read More

For the past six years, the previous administration enveloped Philippine infrastructure development in the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program, an ambitious venture that was meant to usher the country into its “Golden Age of Infrastructure” and address the gaps and inadequacies in Philippine infrastructure. At the onset, the BBB program projected a positive development trend as the government’s infrastructure spending came to occupy the desired percentage vis-à-vis the country’s gross domestic product. Read More

On Sept. 29, 2022, Philippine Department of National Defense (DND) Undersecretary and Officer-in-Charge Jose Faustino and US Secretary of Department of Defense (DoD) Lloyd J. Austin announced their countries’ commitment to the 1951 Philippine-US Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT). The commitment would be seen through the enhancement of maritime cooperation and improvement of their respective armed forces’ interoperability and information sharing. Both secretaries acknowledged the need to secure the Philippines’ future, address regional security challenges, and promote peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region. Read More

For the longest time, retail commerce in the Philippines was traditionally the brick-and-mortar type, where buyers physically went to the sellers to check or choose what exactly they wanted to buy. Sellers followed the principle of KYC (“know your customer”), and buyers were also instinctively guided by KYP (“know your purchases”). Read More

The administration of President Marcos Jr. has anchored its pursuit of an independent Philippine foreign policy on the maxim “friend to all, enemy to none,” carrying out a strategic balancing act in the conduct of its international affairs. First announced in his first State of the Nation Address, this has consistently been reiterated in his various engagements. Read More