General Andres Centino, who was appointed as special maritime affairs assistant to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, aka ‘Bongbong' on 19 July 2023, has had a turbulent first year in his new post.
The tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, which the Filipinos call the West Philippine Sea, have been steadily escalating. They came to a head on 17 June in the Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands, over which several countries claim sovereignty. An incident took place between