As an archipelagic state, the Philippines has sovereignty and jurisdiction over vast marine resources, which it needs to protect. With the benefits of a maritime environment comes the complexity of security concerns within and outside the country’s territory. To effectively harness its inherent maritime potential, the Philippines needs to invest in developing its physical, human, technological, and policy capabilities to secure its maritime jurisdiction and enhance its power projection.   Read More

Leadership change or political succession is a regular occurrence in a democratic system. However, after the recent electoral cycle and the proclamation of the new president, acting beyond politics is imperative for the new administration in the new normal.

Confronted by provocative and challenging views from all sides of the political spectrum, the Marcos Jr. presidency is welcomed by a generally optimistic attitude from the Filipinos. This is evidenced by a historic victory of more than 31 million votes. Read More

President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. identified the Philippine economy as his number one priority. Specifically, this includes increasing public-private partnerships, continuing President Duterte’s flagship “Build, build, build” infrastructure program, improving the Philippine power sector to boost the country’s industrialization, ensuring the proper collection of taxes and duties, and strengthening partnerships with other countries to achieve recovery post-pandemic. He has also stated that he will welcome more investments from the United States. Read More

The Stratbase ADR Institute, in partnership with the Philippine Business for Environmental Stewardship (PBEST), organized its Virtual Roundtable Discussion (VRTD) entitled “Promoting an Investment-Led and Sustainable Economy”. This virtual event was held on 23 June 2022 (Thursday) from 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM, and is part of Stratbase ADRI’s ongoing series of quarterly business roundtable discussions. Read More

President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. has bared the names of the individuals who will lead his economic team. They are technocrats with a demonstrated track record of competence and credibility. Notable among them are Dr. Arsenio Balisacan for the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and Dr. Benjamin Diokno for the Department of Finance (DoF). They had previously served as top economic managers during the administrations of Marcos Jr.’s predecessors and are expected to steer the country’s economy toward the right path in the next six years. Read More

In the past six years, the Philippines struggled to uphold its sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea (WPS) given the balancing, yet often failing, act that the Duterte administration performed in pursuit of its so-called independent foreign policy. This has resulted in numerous setbacks in strengthening our country’s defense posture and advancing strategic relations with like-minded states. Read More

The Philippines has one of the world’s longest coastlines, spanning 36,289 kilometers (22,549 miles), filled with abundant marine resources and maritime industry potential. Its strategic location, critical for trade and security, also elevates the importance of protecting national interest over the country’s territorial rights. These economic and industrial opportunities and strategic geographical location suggest that the new government should be able to use and harness concrete methods and approaches to strongly address our maritime security concerns. To promote and protect Philippine interests and concerns, priority must be given to establishing dependable interagency cooperation between maritime agencies and institutions. Read More