A non-government, nonprofit, and nonpartisan volunteer-based organization that seeks to advance principled approaches to resolving disputes in the West PH Sea.
Manila City
Joined April 2025
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🇵🇭 MANILA TO HOST THE 15TH CSCAP GENERAL CONFERENCE IN DECEMBER
CSCAP Philippines has been selected by its fellow member committees to host the 15th General Conference of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP), bringing a major regional Track 2 security gathering to Manila on December 1-3, 2026.
The WPS Foundation, which serves as CSCAP Philippines co-chair, will lead preparations for the conference. Manila will welcome leading scholars, policy experts, former officials, and security practitioners from across the Indo-Pacific for substantive discussions on the region’s most pressing political, economic and security challenges. 🌏🤝
About CSCAP
Established in 1993, CSCAP provides a track II platform for candid dialogue on issues that are often difficult or politically sensitive. Through its study groups, conferences, and policy memoranda, CSCAP develops practical recommendations, builds trust among regional stakeholders, and supports cooperation even when official diplomatic channels face constraints.
CSCAP’s work also contributes to the wider regional security architecture. Its research and recommendations complement official processes such as the ASEAN Regional Forum, helping connect independent expert analysis with government deliberations and policymaking.
CSCAP’s member committees represent:
🇦🇺 Australia · 🇧🇳 Brunei Darussalam · 🇰🇭 Cambodia · 🇨🇦 Canada · 🇨🇳 China · 🇰🇵 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea · 🇪🇺 European Union · 🇮🇳 India · 🇮🇩 Indonesia · 🇯🇵 Japan · 🇱🇦 Lao PDR · 🇲🇾 Malaysia · 🇲🇳 Mongolia · 🇲🇲 Myanmar · 🇳🇿 New Zealand · 🇵🇭 The Philippines · 🇰🇷 The Republic of Korea · 🇷🇺 Russian Federation · 🇸🇬 Singapore · 🇹🇭 Thailand · 🇺🇸 United States of America · 🇻🇳 Vietnam.
The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat serves as an associate member.
Learn more through the official CSCAP website: cscap.org
#CSCAP #RegionalSecurity #TrackTwoDiplomacy
@jaytaryela @JeffreyOrdaniel @DonMcLainGill95 @ISIS_MY @fsiphilippines @DavidSantoro1 @BradGinTokyo – at Manila City, National Capital Region
WPS Foundation retweeted
MEET THE INAUGURAL COHORT OF THE MANILA DIALOGUE YOUNG LEADERS PROGRAM!🌏
🌏 Selected from 260 applicants from around the world, 28 emerging leaders will converge in Manila for a series of engagements designed to foster dialogue, collaboration, and a deeper understanding of maritime security challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
Their activities will include:
🔹 Maritime Crisis Tabletop Exercise – Simulating a maritime crisis to explore decision-making, crisis management, and regional cooperation.
🔹 Policy Roundtables – Engaging with policymakers, practitioners, and experts on maritime security, international law, and regional challenges.
🔹 The Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea – Participating in one of the region's major Track 1.5 maritime security conferences, alongside senior government officials, diplomats, and leading experts.
📍 Manila, Philippines
📅 15–18 November 2026
1/8
WPS Foundation retweeted
The Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea, this year, will include a Young Leaders Program, featuring 28 emerging maritime security leaders, scholars, and experts from around the world.
Get to know them 👇🏼🧵
MEET THE INAUGURAL COHORT OF THE MANILA DIALOGUE YOUNG LEADERS PROGRAM!🌏
🌏 Selected from 260 applicants from around the world, 28 emerging leaders will converge in Manila for a series of engagements designed to foster dialogue, collaboration, and a deeper understanding of maritime security challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
Their activities will include:
🔹 Maritime Crisis Tabletop Exercise – Simulating a maritime crisis to explore decision-making, crisis management, and regional cooperation.
🔹 Policy Roundtables – Engaging with policymakers, practitioners, and experts on maritime security, international law, and regional challenges.
🔹 The Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea – Participating in one of the region's major Track 1.5 maritime security conferences, alongside senior government officials, diplomats, and leading experts.
📍 Manila, Philippines
📅 15–18 November 2026
1/8
MEET THE INAUGURAL COHORT OF THE MANILA DIALOGUE YOUNG LEADERS PROGRAM!🌏
🌏 Selected from 260 applicants from around the world, 28 emerging leaders will converge in Manila for a series of engagements designed to foster dialogue, collaboration, and a deeper understanding of maritime security challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
Their activities will include:
🔹 Maritime Crisis Tabletop Exercise – Simulating a maritime crisis to explore decision-making, crisis management, and regional cooperation.
🔹 Policy Roundtables – Engaging with policymakers, practitioners, and experts on maritime security, international law, and regional challenges.
🔹 The Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea – Participating in one of the region's major Track 1.5 maritime security conferences, alongside senior government officials, diplomats, and leading experts.
📍 Manila, Philippines
📅 15–18 November 2026
1/8
🌏 YOUNG LEADERS IN FOCUS | 2026 COHORT
Meet four more members of the inaugural Young Leaders Program of The Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea!
🇮🇹 @Piase91 – Senior Lecturer and PhD candidate at the University of the Philippines and Non-Resident Fellow at Pacific Forum.
🇮🇩 Hree Samudra – Strategic Risk Reduction Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network (APLN), specializing in nuclear security and disarmament.
🇵🇭 John Louis Benito – Lecturer and European Studies Program Coordinator at De La Salle University, Philippines.
🇮🇩 @Trystanto2 Sanjaya – Visiting Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), specializing in Indonesian foreign policy and Indo-Pacific security.
7/8
🌏 YOUNG LEADERS IN FOCUS | 2026 COHORT
Meet four more members of the inaugural Young Leaders Program of The Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea!
🇨🇦 Sasha Mathieu – Master’s student in Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, specializing in maritime security and critical undersea infrastructure.
🇵🇭 Fernando Dysico – 2026 Subic SQUAD Forum Fellow at the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS).
🇵🇭 Najwa Uñga – Executive Assistant at the Philippine Department of National Defense and Pacific Forum Young Leader.
🇵🇭 Santiago Castillo – Strategic Capture Specialist at KVG and former staff member of the Philippine National Security Council.
8/8
WPS Foundation retweeted
President Xi’s aim is to make the world dependent on China, while China depends on no one.
Without a coalition of countries to counter it, he will succeed.
thetimes.com/comment/columni…
WPS Foundation retweeted
Updated table on PH maritime cooperative activities with foreign allies and partners in WPS, following latest with USPACOM. All errors are solely mine and your feedback is most welcome. 🙏🏽👇🏽
AFP, US Forces Successfully Conduct 16th Bilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) successfully conducted the 16th Bilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity (MCA) in the West Philippine Sea on October 14, 2026, strengthening maritime interoperability and operational coordination between the two forces.
The Philippines deployed the Philippine Navy’s BRP Miguel Malvar (FFG6) with AW109 helicopter, and Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Melchora Aquino (MRRV 9702). The United States on the other hand deployed USS Warrior (MCM 10). Participating forces conducted Passing Honors and Photo Exercise during the one-day activity.
The latest iteration of MCA underscores the Philippines and the United States’ continued commitment to strengthening defense cooperation, enhancing maritime capabilities, and supporting a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific.///
Photos and videos by: PO3 Gonzales PN / PAOAFP
#AFPyoucanTRUST
#OneAFPOnePhilippines
#StrongAFPStrongPhilippines
#OurSeasOurRightsOurFuture
#MatatagNaSandigan 🫡🇵🇭
[WPS Dispatch] “Pressure intended to consolidate Chinese claims and reduce foreign influence encourages neighboring countries to rearm, manage their differences, cooperate more closely and develop stronger external partnerships, potentially creating precisely the regional alignment Beijing seeks to prevent. China’s greatest strategic vulnerability may consequently no longer be a lack of power, but its difficulty in translating unprecedented power into reassurance—either for itself or for its neighbors.”
Read “China’s strategic anxiety: The paradox of an insecure superpower” by Benjamin Blandin, Research Fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, published in WPS Dispatch.
dispatch.wps-ph.org/chinas-s…
[WPS Dispatch] “The solution then is for those in the West Philippine Sea advocacy, whether in or out of government, to remain assertive in advancing their interests and positions especially if the opposition from other government entities becomes unreasonably accommodating to Beijing. Only then will Philippine national interests be protected and not subjected to the weakness of those who still stubbornly pursue appeasement with China in the West Philippine Sea.”
Read this new Dispatch piece, "Speaking with one voice in the West Philippine Sea,” by military historian and security analyst Jose Antonio Custodio.
dispatch.wps-ph.org/speaking…
[WPS Dispatch] “Europe’s strategic relevance in the South China Sea will be measured less by the number of European warships passing through its waters than by its ability to strengthen the resilience, capabilities and strategic agency of the coastal states.”
Read this new Dispatch piece, "Distant waters, shared tides: A European perspective on the South China Sea,” by Arnaud Leveau (PhD), President of Asia Centre and Founder of Alta Strategies.
dispatch.wps-ph.org/distant-…
WPS Foundation retweeted
Congratulations to the 2026 Cohort of the South China Sea Studies Symposium!
This year, its inaugural cohort brings together 19 scholars and researchers selected from 338 submissions representing 46 countries.
We look forward to seeing the cohort in Manila on November 15! 👋
[ANNOUNCING: 2026 COHORT | SCS STUDIES SYMPOSIUM]
To provide stronger intellectual grounding for the policy discussions at The Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea, and to help bridge the gap between academic research and policymaking, the South China Sea Studies Symposium was launched as the academic component of the Dialogue.
This year, its inaugural cohort brings together 19 scholars and researchers selected from 338 submissions representing 46 countries.
Their research covers a wide range of issues shaping the South China Sea: maritime coercion and gray-zone activities, international law, economic security, subsea cables and critical infrastructure, information operations, minilateral cooperation, and the roles of regional and extra-regional actors.
On November 15, 2026, members of the inaugural cohort will present their draft papers and receive feedback from fellow scholars and experts before developing them into final papers for publication.
South China Sea Studies Symposium
📅 November 15, 2026
⏰ 8:30 AM–4:30 PM
📍 Gallio Events Hall, next to Hyatt Regency City of Dreams Manila
It is also an opportunity to bring established and emerging scholars working on the South China Sea into the same conversation, encourage new research on the region, and create a stronger connection between scholarship and the policy community.
The South China Sea Studies Symposium is made possible with the generous support of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Philippines.
Congratulations to the inaugural cohort, and see you in Manila on November 15!
WPS Foundation retweeted
A Chinese military aircraft maneuvered in close to a Philippine aircraft near Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal), an incident the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) described Sunday as part of a “recurring pattern” of unsafe behavior against Philippine operations.
READ MORE: inqnews.net/ChineseAircraftU…
ALT A Chinese military aircraft maneuvered in close to a Philippine aircraft near Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal), an incident the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) described Sunday as part of a “recurring pattern” of unsafe behavior against Philippine operations.
WPS Foundation retweeted
CCG shields PRC fishermen conducting illegal activities. Not a new thing. This was what happened in April 2012 at Scarborough Shoal when PRC forces intervened with Filipino MLE action against IUUF. Now Beijing fashions itself as environmental and ecological guardian of SCS. 🤷🏻♂️
PCG, PN, PNP-MG TEAM RESPONDS TO DESTRUCTIVE FISHING NEAR PAG-ASA ISLAND; CHINA COAST GUARD OBSTRUCTS LAWFUL OPERATION
On 04 October 2026, an inter-agency maritime law enforcement team from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the Philippine Navy, including Marines, and the PNP Maritime Group responded to a report of suspected dynamite fishing near Sandy Cays 2 and 3, about three (3) nautical miles west of Pag-asa Island, within the territorial sea of the Philippines.
The operation was led by the Coast Guard District Kalayaan Island Group (CGD KIG) under Commodore Gesulgon, under the guidance of PCG Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan to carry out whole-of-government maritime law enforcement together with the other uniformed services on Pag-asa Island. Establishing CGD KIG has raised the PCG's presence in the Kalayaan Island Group to a new level. It allows faster response and better sustainment of operations, working closely with the Municipality of Kalayaan and other government agencies.
At around 0720H, personnel of the Joint Task Unit Pag-asa saw a foreign fishing vessel apparently doing blast fishing in the area. CGD KIG quickly formed an inter-agency team. The team deployed PCG High-Speed Response Boat HSRB-019, a Philippine Navy RHIB and rubber boat, and a PNP Maritime Group RHIB.
The team left the sheltered port of Pag-asa at 0950H. Within minutes, China Coast Guard vessels 5102 and 21581 moved toward its path. They sounded their horns and radio-challenged the Philippine team inside Philippine territorial waters.
At around 1000H, the team reached the fishing vessel about 500 meters east-southeast of Sandy Cay 2. The small boats that were reportedly doing the blasting had already returned to the mother boat. The team ordered the vessel to stop and radioed it several times. The vessel ignored these orders and sailed southwest toward Zamora (Subi) Reef.
While the team followed the vessel, CCG 21581 shadowed and blocked the Philippine boats. At one point it came within about ten (10) yards of HSRB-019. At 1013H, a People's Liberation Army Navy helicopter (tail number 09) circled over the team four times.
At 1023H, about 1.2 nautical miles east-southeast of Sandy Cay 5, the team stopped following the vessel for safety reasons. All personnel returned safely to Pag-asa at 1048H.
Dynamite fishing destroys coral reefs and the fish stocks that Filipino fishermen in the Kalayaan Island Group depend on. It is prohibited under the Philippine Fisheries Code. The PCG stresses that this was a routine law enforcement operation against an illegal and destructive practice. It was not directed at any country. The incident will be documented and referred through the Department of Foreign Affairs for appropriate action through existing channels.
The China Coast Guard has no law enforcement authority in the territorial sea of Pag-asa Island. By obstructing Philippine authorities, the CCG did not protect the marine environment. It made it easier for a suspected violator to escape. The deployment of a PLA Navy helicopter over a civilian law enforcement operation in Philippine territorial waters is an unnecessary act of intimidation. Any claim that the CCG "handled" the situation or "expelled" Philippine vessels is false.
The PCG, together with the Philippine Navy and the PNP Maritime Group, will continue to enforce Philippine laws and protect the marine resources around Pag-asa Island and the Kalayaan Island Group. This mission is in accordance with the guidance of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who has called for firm national resolve in defending what is ours and for responsible stewardship of the country's marine resources.
🤝 [Partnership]
@kasphilippines × @wps_ph
Last June, KAS Philippines, led by Country Director Daniela Braun, and the WPS Foundation, led by its President and CEO Dr. Jeffrey Ordaniel, formalized their partnership through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. 🇩🇪🇵🇭
🌊 Building on their shared commitment to advance a free, open, rules-based, and stable maritime order in the region, KAS Philippines and the WPS Foundation are co-convening The Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea this November.
🎓 As a pre-event to the Dialogue, the two organizations are also launching the inaugural South China Sea Studies Symposium, which will bring together senior scholars and emerging academics from around the world working on South China Sea-related topics to provide stronger intellectual grounding for the policy discussions at the #MNLDialogue.
🔗 The partnership reflects a shared determination to bridge academia and policy vis-à-vis the South China Sea and the broader maritime Asia.
⚓ Watch this space as the KAS–WPS collaboration continues to produce meaningful initiatives that promote the rule of law at sea!
KINMEN 123 IS NOW BRP SARANGANI 6177.
Full Statement: xitter.cf/wps_ph/status/21059775…
[STATEMENT]
The WPS Foundation welcomes the commissioning of BRP SARANGANI (6177) into the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), following the vessel's formal turnover on 21 September 2026.
BRP SARANGANI, formerly the KINMEN (CG123), was built in 2008. The fully refurbished vessel was acquired by the WPS Foundation and donated to the Philippine Coast Guard at no cost to the Philippine Government, exclusively for civilian maritime use.
The vessel is approximately 61 meters long and 11.7 meters wide, with a displacement of around 688 tons. It gives the PCG an additional platform for maritime patrols, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, marine environmental protection, training, and other civilian missions.
The donation followed months of coordination led by Dr. Jeffrey Ordaniel, President and CEO of the WPS Foundation.
"Our objective was straightforward: if we could bring a capable vessel to the Philippine Coast Guard without asking Filipino taxpayers to foot the bill, we should find a way to make it happen," Ordaniel said. "It took months of work, but we reached an arrangement that worked."
The Foundation thanks its partners in Taiwan, including the Taiwan Coast Guard Administration and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines, for their assistance in facilitating the transfer. It also acknowledges the Manila Economic and Cultural Office for its support.
The Foundation thanks Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan, Commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard, and the PCG officers and personnel who worked on the acceptance of the vessel.
"Every additional capable vessel means more presence at sea, more capacity for search and rescue, and more options when the Coast Guard is called upon to respond," Ordaniel said. "That is why we pursued this project."
The donation also reflects how far practical maritime cooperation between the peoples of the Philippines and Taiwan has come since the difficult 2013 incident involving a Taiwanese fishing vessel. Both sides have since worked to prevent similar incidents and to build cooperation in areas such as maritime safety and search and rescue.
The WPS Foundation believes there is room for further people-to-people and practical cooperation in search and rescue, maritime safety, fisheries, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, and marine environmental protection, consistent with the Philippines' One China Policy.
"Ultimately, this is now a Philippine Coast Guard vessel. What matters is the service it provides to the Filipino people," Ordaniel said. "We are grateful to everyone who helped make this possible."
Welcome to the Philippine Coast Guard, BRP SARANGANI (6177).
