MANILA( PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK)-At the root of the Philippines' perennial underperformance is not only our inability to learn the obvious lessons of history.... It's also our inexplicable lack of self-confidence and audacity, which has undermined the country's ability to pursue a brighter and more self-assertive future. For the past century, our foreign policy has orbited around modern empires-first Washington and now Beijing.... The paper is a member of The Straits Times