ASEAN

Vietnamese President and Communist Party General Secretary Tô Lâm arrived in Manila on Sunday for a two-day state visit, holding a bilateral summit with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at Malacañang on June 1 — the first Vietnamese head of state to visit the Philippines in nearly a decade — with both sides signing agreements on trade, agriculture, and maritime cooperation even as their overlapping South China Sea claims remain an unresolved backdrop.

As the worst energy crisis in a decade batters Filipino households, the President's response has been palengke visits and reassurances — while neighboring Asian leaders are securing concrete deals and enacting real relief.