The worrisome situation that continues to intensify across the Indo-Pacific theater – India-China border, Taiwan Straits, East China Sea, South China Sea – is subverting diplomatic efforts to restore peace and order, and escalating the prospects of an armed conflict due to clashing core interests of the great powers between China and the US. While our interdependent foreign policy seeks…
As far back as 1991, I was vocal about investing in our defense, should the government decide to let go of the U.S. bases on account of a provision in the 1987 constitution mandating “no foreign troops on Philippine soil.” Up to that point, the U.S. was our defense shield, and if we were to give it up then we…
Dear Editor, May I share with you my op-ed that appeared in BusinessWorld. It is about building credible deterrence to bring up our country to a state of readiness like all other self-respecting states that zealously protect their people and resources from a world fraught with risks and threats. —Rafael Alunan III The Philippines is like an extremely rich bank…