Manila has the "worst" brand value among 16 Asia-Pacific cities, according to the Location Branding 2012 report published by Public Affairs Asia and Ogilvy Public Relations. The survey showed that a location's brand is a significant factor in attracting foreign investments and tourists.

In his hour-long documentary, “Live To Dive” (Lusong), Ang explores how Totoy, 11, and Pirot, 10, eke out a living for their families by diving for scraps of garbage like discarded plastic bottles and bits of metal in the severely polluted waters beside the ramshackle coastal village of Puting Bato...Now he is taking his film to North Korea.

“The use of sport in local or intra-national diplomacy has proven effective in the case of Tanzania between two formerly conflicting nations, Tanganyika and Zanzibar, with the conduct of sports paving the way towards cultural exchanges, which eventually led to the strengthening of ties between the two liberation movements,” the lawmakers said in their bill.

Mandarin officially became part of the SPFL Program when CI-AUF signed a Memorandum of Agreement with DepEd through the Bureau of Secondary Education on May 23, 2011. The areas of partnership include training of local teachers, joint development of a curriculum, syllabus, and teaching guide for Mandarin as a foreign language.

Jejomar Binay called for more opera diplomacy to improve and sustain friendly ties between the Philippines and Italy...."What we cannot achieve through the usual channels, I think opera might be a more viable and musical alternative," added Binay

Belief in something is very important, especially if one is selling a country brand. A country, after all, is an amalgam of the tangible and the intangible. It is a living thing with a soul that is a reflection of the many elements that make it up-including those little quirks that make it distinct and distinguish it from the rest.

The Philippines must compete with numerous countries and entities for the sustained attention of various key publics and decisions makers in the United States. The Philippines needs a response to this political reality of rival advocacies, clashing priorities and multiple agendas. As part of this response, the Philippines must develop as many platforms as possible from which to project a positive image of itself and of the Philippine-American alliance.

Will the weakening of ASEAN encourage some members to move closer to the U.S.? And will China and the U.S. intensify their "soft power" struggle for the hearts and minds of Southeast Asians?