Getting ready for Asean 2026

GO NEGOSYO PILIPINAS

- ANGAT LAHAT! JOEY CONCEPCION

There is an African proverb that goes, "When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." This implies the vulnerability of innocent bystanders to become collateral damage, even pawns, in a tussle between or among powerful forces.

While this is so true, I'd like to think that when elephants fight, the ants should just instead hurry up and go about their business. One can't help but be a big fan of ants. They're industrious, they work as a team, and if we're to recall that fable about ants, they save up for the rainy days (or winter, as per Aesop's fables).

Now before someone takes me to task for mixing up my literary references, I'd like to remind everybody that I never claimed to be an outstanding student, much less an authority on literature. I am only reminded of it because of recent events rocking the global scene.

Unless you've been living under the proverbial rock, you will have heard about the seismic shifts now happening on the other side of the world. We are now living out the years when there are very real tariff wars, when decades-old bonds between countries are being broken, massive budget cuts here and there and the overhaul of systems that govern the dominant military and economic force of the last century. It remains to be seen what the world will look like after everything is said and done, but I don't think we should just wait around and see.

I say this as I am about to enter the whirlwind that will be the Philippines' hosting of the ASEAN in 2026. The last time we hosted was in 2017, during former president Rodrigo Duterte's time and when the ASEAN celebrated its 50