Power slowly slipping away

Power slowly slipping away

Rodrigo Duterte has felt it. The noose around his neck is slowly tightening.For decades, Duterte was the law in Davao City and, later, in the country when he was elected president in 2016.No one has ever challenged him. No one ever dared to question or criticize him...
US dilemma in the Canada-India spat

US dilemma in the Canada-India spat

Washington walks on a tightrope as the diplomatic row between Ottawa and New Delhi deepens. Canada recalled two-thirds of its diplomats from India after it threatened to revoke the diplomats’ immunity. Canada expelled an Indian diplomat who it said was the head of the...
Transparency and accountability

Transparency and accountability

Rodrigo Duterte is a very angry but irrational man. After lawmakers at the lower house of Congress agreed to scrap his daughter’s 650 million pesos in confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) for next year’s budget, Duterte bitterly criticized the House of...
NATO’s Asia ambitions

NATO’s Asia ambitions

In July, Japan and South Korea attended, for the second consecutive year, the annual summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Lithuania. During the meeting, Japan and the 30-member Atlantic military alliance signed a partnership agreement setting up a NATO...
Litmus test for the country’s legal system

Litmus test for the country’s legal system

Rodrigo Duterte is digging his own grave. The more he opens his mouth to defend his daughter’s scrapped confidential and intelligence funds, the deeper the hole he digs.Duterte may have forgotten he is no longer the president who is immune from lawsuits.When he...