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Sonny Africa

Sonny Africa is the executive director of IBON Foundation.

Trump tariffs: Smaller isn’t always better

Hulyo 16, 2025

The Philippines need not passively submit to US-centric trade norms or the demands of the Trump administration.

On Trump tariff hikes: PH subservience is not strategy

Hulyo 10, 2025

Subservience isn’t strategy—sovereignty is. A government that charts an independent economic path for the Philippines is long overdue.

Great Cabinet Revamp is a dud

Mayo 25, 2025

There’s no doubt that a revamp of government, governance and the Cabinet is overdue. But the Cabinet revamp can’t just be recycling combined with superficially new names or faces. It should mean new ideas for solving old problems and the political will to act on them.

Election post-mortem: Any hope for the economy?

Mayo 19, 2025

The conversation isn’t about what kind of country we want to build and how, but simply who gets to rule it – leaving the inequitable status quo untouched.

Supporting democracy amid undemocratic PH elections

Mayo 12, 2025

The vote is to show that we believe in something better.

America First, Philippines Last: The art of the bad deal

Abril 29, 2025

COMMENTARY

It is baffling how the Philippine government can so badly misread the US’s unambiguous “America First” statements and actions as signaling an interest in Philippine development.

Php20 rice, unli lies

Abril 27, 2025

COMMENTARY

The president is claiming to do something for hungry Filipinos that he promised long ago but hasn’t really done anything about since he took office.

Trump’s hyper-neoliberalism

Abril 21, 2025

FEATURES

While the Trump administration represents a rupture from neoliberal globalization, its protectionist stance reflects a deeper continuity. Trump is not repudiating neoliberalism but rather accelerating and concentrating it.

Trump 2.0: The Emperor’s New Clothes

Abril 14, 2025

The US is undergoing a radical transition from decades of accustomed grand strategies – one that requires a political figure disruptive enough to force that change.