Organizer: Philippine Studies Programme at ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute
Type/Location: Hybrid / Singapore
Description:
Changes in foreign policy under the Marcos Jr. administration have highlighted the significance of protecting Philippine security interests amid an intensifying United States-China rivalry. The Marcos Jr. administration has reinvigorated the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States and adopted more assertive responses to Chinese intimidation in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). Behind these policy shifts, however, is the important role played by subnational political units or local governments as critical arenas of superpower competition.
In some provinces in the Philippines, the U.S.-China rivalry has become a salient issue that has affected even the relationship between particular local governments and the central government. In the fight for access to prime geopolitical real estate, superpowers have increased their presence and activities that could politically influence local elites. The decentralized and dispersed nature of politics in the Philippines opens many paths for superpower influence. Local political elites can also leverage U.S.-China competition to benefit their parochial political interests.
This seminar will present research findings on how US and China activities in two geostrategic provinces in the Philippines have affected local political dynamics and also the foreign policy of the country. Cagayan province is located in northern Philippines near the Taiwan, while Palawan is proximate to the South China Sea.
This event is supported by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
About the Speaker:
Edcel John A. Ibarra is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman where he also obtained a Master in International Studies degree. He is also the managing editor of the Philippine Political Science Journal. Edcel is a Young Leader and US-Philippines Alliance Next-Generation Leader at the Pacific Forum in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. In 2024, he was awarded the Aileen San Pablo Baviera Prize by the Graduate Research and Development Network on Asian Security, based at the Australian National University in Canberra.
Aletheia Kerygma B. Valenciano is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines. She obtained her Master of Arts in International Politics (Chinese Politics and Diplomacy) from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. She is currently the Managing Editor of Asian Politics & Policy, and a fellow at Pacific Forum’s Young Leader’s Program. Aleth was also a fellow of the U.S. Department of State’s Quad-ASEAN Exchange Program in 2024 and a visiting fellow at SIRPA-Fudan’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Program in 2023.
Miguel V. Hermo is a research assistant at the Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman. His research interests include: Indo-Pacific geopolitics, minilateralism, and US-China rivalry. He is also taking a Master in International Studies in the same university. Miguel was apreviously a faculty member at Miriam College and a former research fellow at the International Development & Security Cooperation.
Registration Links:
To attend the event in person, please register here.
To attend the event online, please register here.