Creating an impenetrable shield against disorder

“FOR AN impenetrable shield, stand inside yourself.”

- By Bjorn Biel M. Beltran

Panel Discussion 4 (L-R): Former BusinessWorld reporter Luisa Jocson (moderator), Victor Andres "Dindo" Manhit of Stratbase Institute, John Reinier Dizon of the Federation of Philippine Industries, and Dan Lachica of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation, Inc.

Henry David Thoreau, the most commonly attributed source of that quote, posited that with inner strength and unshakeable fortitude, one can overcome almost anything. The most powerful defense is internal.

This universal truth was reached by the final panel of BusinessWorld Forecast 2026, where representatives from trade organizations and think tanks came together to discuss “Navigating New Normal in Trade: How Philippines Is Faring in the New Global Trade Order.”

Since recovering from the global pandemic, international trade has been defined less by recovery and more by turbulence. Geopolitics is now a disruptive force of its own, reshaping value chains and redrawing the map of opportunity. Major economies like the United States under President Donald Trump are forcing supply chains to recalibrate, even as technology becomes ever necessary through the proliferation of digital systems and economies. This shifting order has sharpened competition across Asia and exposed longstanding vulnerabilities in trade-dependent economies like the Philippines.

“Today the world, I would say, is in a global disorder,” Stratbase Institute President Victor Andres “Dindo” C. Manhit said.

Since the Second World War, Mr. Manhit explained, there had been a prevailing narrative about the world: that the West had been up to now the custodians of the global order, and that the Philippines as a country has benefitted greatly from this order. But as Western influence wanes, those who have questioned that arrangement — countries like China, Russia, and Iran — are stepping into the limelight.