Kobe, A Young Visayan Man
It was a Saturday evening in Davao, at the southern tip of the Philippines, one week after a massive rally for Rodrigo Duterte, the nation’s new president, in a local park. It was the...
Category: Philippines
A Death in Davao
The house in Royal Valley was the same. With a doorway missing its door and a window frame without any glass panes, the tiny house offered little separation between an inside and an outside...
ASEAN Rejects Human Rights
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, has never had a reputation for solving problems. Rather, ASEAN, founded in 1967 to meet new economic and political challenges, has always been known for inaction,...
Burning Birds in the Philippines
In the Philippines, authorities are killing and burning thousands of birds to address an outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu. Already in Pampanga, a region just north of Manila on the main island...
Defeat in Court Upsets Xi Jinping
“China will never accept any claim or action based on those awards,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a show of defiance. It was a Tuesday in the middle of July, outside Beijing. A...
Duterte Wins the Presidency
On the day after the election for president in the Philippines, three of the four losers in the race conceded defeat. The fourth, Jejomar Binay, needed two days to lick his wounds. Rodrigo Duterte...
China Populates the South China Sea
China is not only building commercial and military infrastructure on the disputed islands of the South China Sea. It is also trying to establish communities of Chinese residents there in a bid to strengthen...
The Philippines Challenges China in Court
A ruling in the case of the Philippines versus China is coming soon. The case lies at the heart of increased tensions in the South China Sea. President Xi Jinping and his communist-party colleagues...
Fishing in the South China Sea
Fishing is becoming increasingly dangerous in the South China Sea. In the past it was piracy that struck fear in the hearts of fishermen off the coasts of the Philippines and Vietnam. Today it’s...
Japan’s Military Ties with the Philippines
Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) has joined a large US Navy force in the Philippines. The military build-up in the Southeast Asian nation of 100 million comes in response to recent moves by Chinese forces...