Appeasing the ‘dragon’ is a folly

Dr. Renato de Castro, Trustee and Convenor of the National Security and East Asian Affairs Program, Stratbase ADR Institute On Feb. 8, 2021, Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin revealed that the Philippines and the United States will meet in late February to iron out their differences over the 1999 Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement… Read More

The tip of the spear: The Chinese Coast Guard in the South China Sea

Dr. Renato de Castro, Trustee and Convenor of the National Security and East Asian Affairs Program, Stratbase ADR Institute On Jan. 29, 2021, the Philippines filed a strongly worded diplomatic protest against China’s passage of a law authorizing the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) to use force against foreign vessels in the contested waters of the… Read More

From list to mechanism that supports Philippines’ economic recovery

Paco A. Pangalangan, Executive Director, Stratbase ADR Institute The National Economic and Development Authority recently presented four priority areas that it wanted the private sector to have more investments to help in the country’s economic recovery. These four areas were: health, food resilience, education continuity and digital transformation. The reason these are priority areas is… Read More

Fiscal responsibility in a time of crisis

Dindo Manhit, President, Stratbase ADR Institute The national government’s fiscal program is ultimately expressed by the national budget, in this case, the 2021 General Appropriations Act. Under both boom and recession situations, budget discipline is expected in order to observe fiscal responsibility so that governments can manage economic cycles. A 2019 International Monetary Fund working… Read More