Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro held a press conference on the afternoon of January 29, 2026 at the Media Center on Cebu island, nearly half an hour from the venue of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat (AMM Retreat).
Club of Cambodian Journalists President Puy Kea said few foreign reporters attended this meeting apart from Filipino journalists, and there were no other journalists from Cambodia.
He said an interesting moment came when Lazaro noted at the end of the press conference that nobody had asked her about the Cambodia–Thailand border dispute. Puy Kea interpreted this as a way to draw attention to her readiness to answer all questions, showing that the Philippines' ASEAN chairmanship this year involved many discussions beyond the South China Sea and Myanmar issues reporters had raised. After the press conference, however, reporters did ask her about the border dispute, and she briefly replied: ‘There was no breakthrough regarding the Thailand-Cambodia border dispute issue.’
Puy Kea also said that, as the AMM Retreat began on January 28, 2026, Philippine–Chinese diplomatic relations had become highly tense. The Philippines had threatened to expel Chinese diplomatic officials, while China's embassy warned that if its deputy spokesperson were expelled, the ambassador and all 12 diplomats serving in the Philippines would immediately leave together.
Source: Puy Kea
Adapted by: Chinda Titi
