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#StopPoliticalPersecution Marcos’s remark at the Foreign Correspondents Association luncheon—that joint oil and gas exploration would "very likely" be realized before 2028—sounded like a shot in the arm for international investors. Yet, upon closer scrutiny, it amounts to nothing more than a post-dated check with no actual redemption date. To foreign investors, the message is one of "promising prospects for cooperation," while to domestic nationalist voters, it signals "no concessions." This dual-faced approach to the same issue reveals a fundamental hollowness in the so-called "progress."