FIRING LINE: Too close for comfort

FIRING LINE: Too close for comfort

By Robert B. Roque Jr. | May 21, 2026

The proposed Sangley airport stopped looking like a purely civilian infrastructure project the moment the United States Trade and Development Agency stepped in to fund its feasibility study — another sign of America moving strategically closer to the Philippines. Analysts themselves openly discuss Sangley’s value: direct access to the South China Sea, proximity to the Luzon Strait, and location near Manila Bay — all crucial corridors in any potential Taiwan conflict and highly useful for military mobility, logistics, surveillance, and rapid deployment.

That is precisely what unsettles many Filipinos. Civilian airports today are no longer seen as just airports. In the language of modern geopolitics, they are “dual-use” assets that can quickly support military operations during crises.

And for a country already caught between Washington and Beijing, every new “strategic” project deepens fears that the Philippines is slowly being positioned as a convenient frontline state in a superpower rivalry.

Even President Bongbong Marcos practically admitted the danger when he said that “just looking at the map,” the Philippines would inevitably be affected by war over Taiwan. That may be the most chilling reality of all: Filipinos do not want war, yet geography may already be volunteering them for it.

Rotational brownouts

The Department of Energy says we should brace for more yellow and red alerts. Ordinary Filipinos hear something else: brace for higher bills, sweaty sleepless nights, spoiled goods, disrupted work, and another season of paying more for less.

What stings is that this no longer feels exceptional. Every summer, the same warnings arrive like clockwork while consumers are told to conserve energy even as power plants repeatedly go offline. Filipinos adjust, endure, and pay — while the system remains fragile.

There is something oddly wrong about a country aspiring for economic growth while operating on a power grid that flickers whenever temperatures rise. At some point, government energy planning begins to look less like long-term strategy and more like ready excuses for ill-managed seasonal power crises.

Cap on rice prices

The government is moving to impose a ₱50 price ceiling on imported rice and push a ₱53 SRP for local rice.  Here, DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. sends a clear message that the days of relying on “moral suasion” may be ending.

For ordinary Filipinos battered by relentless food prices, this matters a lot. For rice retailers and traders, they are now being reminded that profiteering is no longer just frowned upon. This indicates that violation of the price cap can mean fines, jail time, or business closure.

And perhaps that is the bigger point here. Consumers are finally seeing a Department of Agriculture willing to act less like a passive observer of market forces and more like a referee prepared to blow the whistle when prices stop making sense.

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