The Development Academy of the Philippines, through its Center for Governance-Policy Research Office, organized the second installment of the Thursday Talks Lecture Series titled “Charting Strategies for the Philippine Foreign Policy in the 21st Century” under the Capability Building on Innovative Leadership for Legislative Staff (CBILLS) program on 15 June 2023 through the Zoom communications.

This online event featured sessions of Dr. Charmaine Willoughby, associate professor at the De La Salle University – Department of International Studies and Hans Mohaimin Siriban, acting deputy undersecretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) Bilateral Relations and ASEAN Affairs.  

Willoughby discussed the importance of geopolitics and the country’s establishment of relationships with the international community. She stressed that “pursuing an independent foreign policy is not choosing one great power over another… instead, [it] should really entail a diversification of the country’s international relations.” 

Meanwhile, Siriban discussed the DFA’s operationalization of the three pillars of Philippine foreign policy, namely, national security, economic security, and the protection of the Filipinos overseas.  He also tackled the country’s international engagements and key foreign policy strategies in order to push forward its foreign policy interests.

The Thursday Talks, which started in May and will run until September 2023, is one of the three components of the CBILLS program that aims to broaden the perspectives of participants from the Congress on the sociopolitical and economic trends in the country. The live stream of the second lecture is accessible through the Policy Research Office Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/DAPCFGPRO. – Jeanena Mae Rafer