The general Filipino public may not even realize it, but the country is hosting ASEAN this year. This year-long diplomatic fiesta will cost Filipino taxpayers at least ₱17.5 billion, according to the President’s message in the 2026 National Expenditure Program.
In return for footing the bill for summit venues and facilities; security, transport, and IT; meetings and events management; communications and branding; and assorted infrastructure upgrades, what exactly do Filipinos get back? And what about the rest of ASEAN’s peoples, whose governments are also spending heavily to send their delegates?
At the very least, one might expect this aggrupation of forever-rising tigers to confront reality: one global empire in slow but steady decline, a nearer empire in slow but steady aggression, and closer to home, an armed conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, the first such clash between two ASEAN member states.
So what will ASEAN do about all this under the Philippines’ chairmanship?
One diplomat offered this blunt reminder: “And it erupted during the SEA Games in Bangkok, just a few hundred kilometers away. Everyone was busy counting medals. That’s what ASEAN has become: a joke.”
Has ASEAN really become a joke?
Not yet. As the largest international event to be hosted by the Philippines in 2026 — featuring 231 cluster meetings and 695 sub-cluster meetings — it still has room for ambition. The Philippines, as chair, can and should steer discussions toward issues that actually matter to ordinary ASEAN citizens, not just to communiqués, photo ops, and perfectly rehearsed smiles.