By Raïssa Robles

In recent weeks, the kiss-kiss, hug-hug relations between Manila and Beijing officials have ever so slightly cooled.

The reason – summer has brought several hundred Chinese fishing boats around Pag-Asa island, just as the Philippine military is about to do a major facelift of its facilities there, including the air strip and airport.

The summer winds blowing through Malacañang Palace seem to have also inspired officials to sing a different tune  about the South China Sea.

This afternoon, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo held for the first time a “virtual presser” for reporters from the foreign media. I would not have known about it had not not my editors assigned me to it.

Do you know that nearly three years after assuming the presidency, President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to deliver a major policy speech before the foreign media, including the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines? Neither has his foreign secretaries ever met FOCAP. [READ MORE…]