Editor’s Note
by Karen Ysabelle David, Lead Editor - Pacific Corridor Desk
This week, the Pacific Corridor is a frenzied hub of activity: Singapore is pushing to decarbonize its manufacturing sector; Vietnam is sprinting to realize its double-digit growth ambitions as the end of the year looms; and the Philippines is straining against the limits of migrant protection as the 15-year saga of the Mary Jane Veloso case comes to a close.
There are challenges aplenty. Are millions of Singaporean dollars in funding enough to kickstart decarbonization, all while keeping jobs and investments plentiful? Can Hanoi meet its own fast-approaching deadline without conflating a high disbursement rate with actual productivity and growth? Will Manila learn from the case of Mary Jane Veloso — arrested in Indonesia in 2010 and only recently released — and move to better protect its millions of overseas workers worldwide?
With such a dynamic region, is it any wonder that all three countries are in such frantic motion?
Singapore 🇸🇬
Singapore’s Push to Decarbonize Its Manufacturing Sector
by Jennifer Hui En Tan, in Singapore
As manufacturers face increasing pressure to reduce emissions, developing cleaner industrial technologies is becoming not just an environmental priority, but also a question of investment, productivity, and long-term economic resilience. On 23 October 2026, Singapore announced a SGD143 million Industry Decarbonization Funding Initiative to accelerate the development and commercialization of low-carbon technologies. The initiative aims to help industries reduce their environmental impact while maintaining Singapore’s position as a competitive destination for manufacturing and investment.
Manufacturing contributes around 20% of Singapore’s GDP and employs approximately one-eighth of its workforce. However, industries account for around 65% of the country’s emissions, including those associated with electricity consumption. Reducing these emissions is therefore essential to achieving Singapore’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
The challenge is to decarbonize without undermining jobs, investment, and economic growth. Singapore’s limited land and renewable energy resources, alongside the complex energy requirements of its industries, constrain the options available. Technologies developed elsewhere may also require adaptation to local operating conditions.
To address these challenges, up to SGD100 million of the initiative will support the Decarbonization Research for Industry, Ventures, and Enterprise (DRIVE) program. Companies can identify their own decarbonization challenges and collaborate with public research institutions to develop solutions. This approach allows research to be guided by practical industrial needs rather than technological innovation alone.
However, developing promising technologies is only the first step. Five existing low-carbon energy research projects will receive further support under a SGD65 million grant call to scale up their technologies and test them in industrial settings. This funding is intended to help researchers move beyond laboratory experiments toward solutions that can be applied in real-world industrial environments.
Singapore is also developing a Low-Carbon Technology Translational Testbed on Jurong Island, supported by SGD62 million in funding. The facility will allow companies to test emerging technologies under industrial conditions without having to build their own costly pilot facilities. Potential applications include converting carbon dioxide into sustainable aviation fuel and producing hydrogen from ammonia, both of which could help reduce emissions in energy-intensive sectors.
These investments could help Singapore remain attractive to manufacturers and investors as businesses face growing pressure to lower their emissions. Yet funding alone will not guarantee success. Technologies must demonstrate that they can operate reliably at scale and reduce emissions at commercially viable costs. Singapore must also maintain reliable energy supplies and competitive operating costs, particularly for energy-intensive industries.
The implications extend beyond Singapore. Its research institutions, financing ecosystem, and industrial test facilities could help connect technology developers, investors, and manufacturers across Southeast Asia. Manufacturing-intensive economies such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia may benefit from regional partnerships, although their differing energy mixes, infrastructure, and financial capabilities mean that solutions will need to be adapted to local conditions.
Ultimately, Singapore’s decarbonization efforts will be measured not by the amount of funding committed, but by whether research translates into technologies that industries can adopt at scale. If successful, the initiative could strengthen Singapore’s manufacturing competitiveness while contributing to Southeast Asia’s wider transition toward a lower-carbon economy.
Jennifer is a final-year International Relations student at the Singapore Institute of Management, where she focuses on political engagement, diplomacy, and community governance. She is an active volunteer in her constituency, working closely with residents to understand local concerns, facilitate dialogue, and support community initiatives.
Vietnam 🇻🇳
The Last Sprint Beyond a Numerical Rate
by Thao-My Mai Vu, in Ho Chi Minh City
As 2026 draws to a close, Vietnam is racing against the clock to realize its double-digit growth ambitions. Recent momentum seems promising: GDP growth accelerated to 9.95% for Q3, bringing its nine-month growth to 9.01%. Yet, closing the remaining gap now hinges on public investment — one of the most feasible levers that the government can pull within weeks without a heavy reliance on market conditions, consumer spending, or external factors. While disbursement has reached a record high (roughly 64.6% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister for 2026), the strain is most acute regarding the remaining VND360.9 trillion that must be deployed within the last two months. 1,131 stalled projects, worth around VND779 trillion, remain unresolved amid deficiencies in planning, land access, site clearance, and materials supply.
In this context, mounting pressure may yield tangible benefits. It incentivizes authorities to resolve regulatory bottlenecks and unblock delayed works, which in turn drives a nationwide surge in infrastructure building, particularly in key transport projects. In fact, funds are being reallocated from slow-moving projects to projects with good disbursement rates, which may improve efficiency.
At the same time, this strategy warrants great caution, since a high disbursement rate does not necessarily facilitate productive growth, especially under time pressure. Much of the fastest-disbursing expenditure in the first nine months, such as in Vietnam’s two mega-cities — Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City — was attributed to land clearance, compensation, resettlement, and infrastructure relocation. Year-end figures may thus swell without a substantial increase in finished work. This shortcoming has been acknowledged, yet the new official scoring system still adopts a performance measure based on the disbursement rate.
Such a ‘disbursement race’ may, without rigorous oversight, prioritize low-value projects that are easier to fund over those offering longer-term economic returns. Moreover, it can also lead officials to overlook the voices of affected residents: Ho Chi Minh City, for instance, has urged people to hand over land early to keep projects on schedule, risking the marginalization of their grievances.
The central question for Vietnam at the moment, therefore, should no longer be about the feasibility of a double-digit target, but more about the rate of productivity and tangibility induced from this growth in the longer term.
Thao-My is a young researcher focusing on small-power statecraft, Vietnam-Cambodia relations, and the politics of water infrastructure in the Greater Mekong Subregion. As Vietnam’s Student Delegate to the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, she contributed to global dialogues on multilateral reforms and bridging the North-South divide from a Southeast Asian perspective. She also has professional experience in policy advocacy and government affairs.
The Philippines 🇵🇭
Mary Jane Veloso and the Strained Limits of Migrant Protection
by Glenn Vincent N. Boquilon, in Makati City
Mary Jane Veloso’s release in September 2026 marked the end of a long legal ordeal that began with her arrest in Indonesia in 2010. After spending nearly 15 years in detention, she returned to the Philippines in December 2024 to serve the remainder of her sentence. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. granted her an absolute pardon on 25 September, allowing her to walk free.
Her case is more than a story of individual freedom. It highlights the difficult relationship between overseas employment, human trafficking, and the responsibility of governments to protect their citizens abroad.
Veloso was arrested after Indonesian authorities found heroin in her luggage. She maintained that she had been deceived by recruiters and did not know she was carrying illegal drugs. Her case drew international attention in 2015, when she received a last-minute reprieve from execution following diplomatic appeals by the Philippine government.
Her eventual return also demonstrated the importance of bilateral diplomacy. An agreement reached between Manila and Jakarta in 2024 allowed her to serve her sentence in the Philippines. The pardon brought another resolution, a case shaped by two countries’ legal systems and years of negotiations.
For the Philippines, the case carries implications beyond diplomacy. Millions of Filipinos seek employment overseas while often relying on recruiters and intermediaries to access opportunities abroad. When these arrangements involve deception or exploitation, workers can face serious legal and personal consequences in countries where they may have limited support networks.
This makes migrant protection a governance issue. Assistance cannot begin only after a worker is arrested or placed in danger. Recruitment oversight, access to legal assistance, and coordination between Philippine diplomatic missions and host governments are equally important.
The case also has wider relevance for Southeast Asia, where workers regularly cross borders for employment. Regional cooperation on ethical recruitment and human trafficking investigations could help address risks that no single government can manage alone.
Ultimately, the measure of migrant protection is not only whether governments can bring citizens home. It is whether they can prevent exploitation, secure fair treatment abroad, and ensure that workers are not left to navigate complex legal systems alone.
Mary Jane Veloso is free. The bigger challenge is ensuring that fewer migrant workers find themselves in similar circumstances.
Glenn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Santo Tomas. His experience spans governance programs, policy development, and political research, having worked with the Ateneo School of Government and WR Numero Research on projects focused on electoral reform, public opinion, and regional development. He also helped coordinate the drafting of the Bangsamoro Local Government Code and supported the Academy of Multiparty Democracy.
Editorial Deadline 27/10/2025 11:59 PM (UTC +8)
