Dindo Manhit, President of the Stratbase ADR Institute Three years after the Philippines won its landmark case against China, the Duterte administration appears consistent in applying a different policy toward Beijing. It set aside the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling to harness Chinese financial resources through Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The arbitral… Read More

Around June 2018, Filipino fishermen reported the extent of damage inflicted by Chinese fishermen on the seabed of Scarborough Shoal. They also reported that they witnessed these Chinese fishermen bringing corals and giant clams harvested from the area on board their ships. Despite clear evidence and public plea, the government opted not to pursue any… Read More

Dindo Manhit, President of the Stratbase ADR Institute The undulation of Philippine sovereignty in the historically labeled South China Sea is becoming more turbulent. And as the Duterte presidency reaches its three-year mark, the arbitral ruling on the contested waters is also approaching its triennial. On July 12, 2016, the Hague ruling accorded to the… Read More

Dr. Renato de Castro, Trustee and Convenor of the National Security and East Asian Affairs Program of the Stratbase ADR Institute Just before midnight on June 9, a Chinese fishing vessel rammed and partially sank a wooden Filipino fishing boat, the F/B Gem-Vir 1, then anchored at Reed Bank in the South China Sea. After… Read More

Dr. Renato de Castro, Trustee and Convenor of the National Security and East Asian Affairs Program of the Stratbase ADR Institute The warm waters of the South China Sea are rich, which make them highly contested fishing grounds. China is the largest littoral state around this body of water, and it has a huge population… Read More

We are pleased to share with you our June Occasional Paper, entitled “The 2019 Midterm Elections in the Philippines: From Patronage to Populist Mobilization” written by Dr. Julio C. Teehankee, a professor of Political Science and International Studies at the De La Salle University. The paper focuses on the how President Rodrigo Duterte has been… Read More

Dindo Manhit, President of the Stratbase ADR Institute The phenomenal rise of the Davao strongman as the most powerful leader in the Philippines has disrupted the Philippine political and economic landscape in the past three years. A majority of Filipinos did express optimism in the last presidential election that President Duterte would be a disruptive… Read More