This isn’t just about planes, it’s about power.” In a move that’s sending shockwaves across the Indo-Pacific, the United States has deployed F-35 stealth fighter jets and the Typhon Mid-Range Capability (MRC) missile system to the Philippines, for the first time ever. It’s not just a military maneuver; it’s a clear signal that Washington is…
Malampaya is dying, and with it, a key pillar of our energy security. For over two decades, this offshore gas field has powered nearly 20% of Luzon’s electricity, providing vital fuel for gas plants that help keep the lights on in Metro Manila. But the Department of Energy (DOE), as cited by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian…
The external threat now has become more pronounced, more worrisome.” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., February 2025 Something’s changing in the Pacific and fast. Not long ago, the Philippines was focused inward. Its soldiers chased insurgents in the jungles of Mindanao. Coast guards cracked down on pirates and smugglers in the southern seas. Disaster relief was…
You wake up early, head to work, try to save a little, maybe dream about buying a home or starting a family. But the dream keeps slipping further away. You’re doing everything right, why does it feel like everything is going wrong? Your rent just jumped again. The grocery bill stings. You can’t find a…
What if your backyard, your oceans, your islands, your home, was being watched by a foreign power, every single day? Not with bullets or bombs, but with silent ships, unmanned drones, and radar signals that never sleep. Welcome to the Philippines in 2025, a tropical paradise caught in the crosshairs of one of the most…
It’s not just another carrier docking, it’s a global message. That’s how a U.S. Navy officer summed it up as the USS George Washington, a 100,000-ton symbol of American naval dominance, sailed into Manila Bay, drawing the eyes of both allies and rivals across the Indo-Pacific. On the shoreline, Filipino fishermen watched silently as the…
A railway backed by the U.S. military… cutting straight through the heart of the Philippines. Is this the country’s most powerful infrastructure project yet?” In what’s being called a game-changer for Asia’s logistics and defense, the Subic to Batangas Railway Project is about to redraw the map of Philippine connectivity. Stretching 250 kilometers, this mega…
Is the Philippines Becoming the Next Maritime Superpower? Just weeks ago, the U.S. rolled in its game-changing SELKIE USV, an AI-powered, 500-nautical-mile endurance drone boat, right onto Philippine shores at Subic Bay, with licensed co‑production already on the table. And barely a month earlier, American Special Forces were caught training with Devil Ray T‑38 drone boats…
Have you heard of Mavulis Island? Most haven’t, but that’s about to change. Once dismissed as a remote, windswept outpost at the northern edge of the Philippines, Mavulis is now emerging as one of the most consequential islands in the Indo-Pacific. Just 140 kilometers from Taiwan and perched beside the Bashi Channel, a maritime chokepoint…
At dawn, local fishermen off the northern coast of Luzon scan the sky as they haul their nets, not just for weather, but for warplanes. Overhead, the thunder of Chinese jets patrolling Taiwan’s ADIZ has become part of the daily soundscape in 2025. Just beyond the horizon lies the Bashi Channel, a narrow maritime passage…
