After two years of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, a simple in-person ceremony marked the 55th founding anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at the ASEAN headquarters in Jakarta last Aug. 8. With a population of 662 million and a combined Gross Domestic Product of...
PEACE-MAKER Jose de Venecia Jr. Former Speaker of the House Amid the recent tensions in the Taiwan Strait, which is one of the protracted flashpoints in Asia and in the world, we wish to reiterate our continuing modest calls and fervent wish against a possible Cold War in the Asia Pacific region....
Spotlight on the modern Filipino diplomat LUNA PICS Shaira Luna, assisted by her manager Jan Villanueva, photographs Asec. Raul Hernandez Among the Philippines’ major strengths are its creatives. Quite the cliché, some might say, and while we have yet to fully attain the international...
People: Ties that bind FRENCH TIES Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. and French Ambassador Michèle Boccoz after their discussion on strengthening PH-France ties in a courtesy call at the DFA (Vanessa Ubac) And just like that, it truly feels like everything is going back to normal. A whole range of...
President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. says he'll employ a tactic of his late father, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., in order to address the current fuel price crisis. President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (left) and the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. (BBM Media Bureau,...
Why we still need diplomats abroad after having them work from home during Covid Madame Koshikawa, Ambassador Kazuhiko Koshikawa, and the author It was refreshing to see diplomatic events coming back to Manila as we eased our way into the minimal restrictions we now live with. Meetings among...
The Korean Cultural Center is ready for its next chapter READY FOR THE NEXT DECADE KCC Director Im Young A It’s been a little over a decade since the Korean Cultural Center (KCC) was established in Manila. I got to visit their former space back in 2013 to cover one of their events and it’s...
Ending Women’s Month and celebrating the golden jubilee of PH-Bangladesh relations NIGHT LIGHTS An evening in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh On Monday, March 28, Bangladesh and the Philippines celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations. It was also a celebration of the golden jubilee of...
AMIGOS EN LA CULTURA National Museum Director Jeremy Barns (left) and Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines Jose Moragas formally open the exhibit titled The Longest Journey With alert level one in place, diplomatic events have come back to (real) life. This, after having been relegated mostly to...
'I’m using a VPN (virtual private network), I have to if I want to see beyond what the Chinese government wants us to see,' Lester tells me For the nth time, April finds herself in another Chinese city on a research trip. The Mandarin here is slightly different, and she has to ask the...
A WORLD METAVERSALLY CONNECTED Will there be a need for ambassadors in a future without borders Back in November, the Caribbean nation of Barbados announced that they would be opening its first embassy in the metaverse, Decentraland. The island nation’s decision to build a digital diplomatic...
The Philippines must not allow diplomacy to fail and must not go to war with China amid tension over the West Philippine Sea, presidential aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said. For Marcos Jr., the government should continuously engage with China in terms of discussing the sovereignty on...
