Marcos: A “Future-Ready” PH–US Alliance Evolving Beyond Defense Eighty years in, this alliance is no longer running on muscle memory. And President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. knows it. Standing at the milestone anniversaries, 80 years of Philippine–US diplomatic relations and 75 years of the Mutual Defense Treaty, Marcos didn’t sound nostalgic. He sounded forward-looking, almost impatient…
The Quiet Expansion — U.S. Army Rotational Force in the Philippines and the Militarization of the First Island Chain Nothing rolled in with fanfare. No dramatic base openings. No headline-grabbing troop numbers. Just a short confirmation, almost easy to miss: the U.S. Army now maintains a rotational force in the Philippines. Quiet. Technical. Bureaucratic-sounding. And…
PH Coast guard boosts fleet with new vessels and SAR Upgrades for 2026 What happens when a distress call comes in at sea and help is hours away, not minutes? In a country made up of more than 7,600 islands, that question isn’t hypothetical. It’s life or death. And in 2026, the Philippine Coast…
Why Japan and the Philippines Are the Two-Front Problem Haunting China Now For decades, Chinese strategists quoted Sun Tzu like scripture. “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” Calm. Patient. Elegant. The kind of line that makes power look effortless. What’s happening now looks nothing like that. Instead of quietly bending…
Whose Military is Strongest among ASEAN Nations (2026)? Is it the one with the flashiest jets? The biggest budget? Or the country that quietly controls the map itself? That question is suddenly everywhere after recent regional drills, naval standoffs, and defense budget bumps across Southeast Asia. ASEAN militaries are no longer just about parades and…
Philippines to Hold Military Exercises Near Bajo de Masinloc Despite Chinese Protests So here’s the real question, how long can this go on before something slips? Because what’s unfolding near Bajo de Masinloc isn’t just about one set of drills or one angry protest note from Beijing. It’s about a region being pushed, slowly and…
The Sulu Sea: How Subsidized Fuel Is Powering Southeast Asia’s Grey-Zone Economy The Core Transaction Start with the math. Everything else flows from it. In Malaysia’s Sabah state, fishermen can legally buy subsidized diesel for 2.10 ringgit per liter—about 53 U.S. cents. Now cross the Sulu Sea. In the southern Philippines, the same fuel sells…
5 Major Issues Haunting the South China Sea in 2026? In the summer of 1914, Europe did not slide into war because its leaders sought one. It drifted there through routines that appeared manageable—mobilisations described as defensive, alliances justified as precautionary, and incidents absorbed repeatedly until they no longer could be. By the time the…
U.S. Navy Secures Philippines’ $26 Trillion Gas Field, Blocking Outside This discovery could change the Philippines forever.” That was the quiet warning behind the headlines this week, as Manila confirmed a major new offshore gas find east of Malampaya, just as U.S. naval forces ramp up their presence in the same waters. One question immediately…
After the Frigates: Charting the Philippine Navy’s Corvette Crossroads in Re-Horizon 3 What happens after the flag-raising ceremonies end, and the sea stops being forgiving? As headlines once again fill with reports of tense encounters in the West Philippine Sea, close-in maneuvering, water cannons, and steel hulls brushing against steel hulls, a far more consequential…
