The Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) joins the Filipino people in commemorating the 10th anniversary of the landmark 2016 Arbitral Award, a historic legal victory that affirmed the Philippines' sovereign rights and maritime entitlements within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The ruling remains a powerful affirmation that international law—not the use of force or unilateral assertions—sho

Philippines Socio-Economic and Political Situationer In May 2026, Philippine politics were widely described as entering a period of heightened tension, reflecting deepening fractures within the country’s governing coalition. The once-strategic alignment between the Marcos and Duterte political blocs has increasingly given way to open rivalry as the 2028 national elections draw closer. Both factions have been actively consolidating influence, strengthening political networks

The Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) expresses grave concern over the increasingly confrontational posture adopted by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. toward China and his apparent alignment with the strategic objectives of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region. The 1987 Philippine Constitution clearly mandates that the State "shall pursue an independent foreign policy." This constitutional principle was established to ensure that the Philippi

Synthesis This paper seeks to explore and analyze the Marcos Jr. administration’s consolidation of power amid a deepening crisis of legitimacy. It argues that the regime’s trajectory reveals a governance model anchored in elite accommodation, technocratic spectacle, and the selective use of reformist discourse to obscure entrenched patronage and authoritarian tendencies. While early efforts at regime-building enabled the alignment of key institutions—the legislature, judiciar