Why the Philippines walks a delicate balance as Asean chair

When Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr accepted the Asean gavel from Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur last October, the script was already written: a packed agenda, South China Sea diplomacy in the spotlight and a regional digital economy deal to clinch. Then the world changed.

On February 28, US and Israeli forces struck Iran. The Strait of Hormuz, an artery of global shipping through which 98 per cent of the Philippines’ crude oil imports travel, became a war zone. Fuel prices spiked. Over 2.5 million Filipino workers in the Persian Gulf suddenly found their jobs, safety and the remittances sustaining millions of families back home under threat.

At the 48th Asean Summit in Cebu, Marcos scrapped his original agenda and convened what officials described as a “bare-bones” session focused on oil, food and migrant workers. “We will achieve absolutely nothing until there is peace,” he told reporters.