PM Wong in Cebu: halo-halo, a barong, and an ASEAN Summit cut to 3 days by fuel costs

PM Lawrence Wong tried halo-halo and wore a Barong Tagalog at the Cebu ASEAN Summit.

The 48th ASEAN Summit sat on 8 May 2026, with related meetings in Cebu from 7 May. Wong also pressed ASEAN for a joint response to the Middle East fuel crisis.

That crisis reaches kababayans in Singapore through airfares, balikbayan box rates and padala costs.

Sideline meetings

Wong arrived in Cebu on 7 May with Mrs Wong and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.

He first met Cambodian PM Hun Manet. They covered trade, food security, energy and joint action against cross-border scams.

He then met Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim to review bilateral issues and look for new areas of cooperation.

At the foreign ministers' meeting on 7 May, ministers agreed to speed up the ASEAN Power Grid. They also backed open supply chains and navigation rights under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The Filipino touches

Wong's Instagram and TikTok reel from Cebu carried the caption "A little halo-halo, a lot of hellos."

• Halo-halo: a full bowl with ube, leche flan, beans, jellies, sweet corn and milk.
• Barong Tagalog: Wong and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wore matching barongs at the gala dinner.
• Filipiniana: Mrs Wong, Loo Tze Lui, wore a Filipiniana dress with butterfly sleeves.
• BINI: the reel used a song by the P-pop group that drew global attention after Coachella 2026.

Fuel on the agenda

Wong called for an urgent, collective ASEAN response to the Middle East crisis and the fuel disruption from the Iran war.

Fuel costs cut the summit from five days to three. More than 600 face-to-face meetings moved online.

Marcos, as host, said the crisis showed how exposed the region's economies remain to sudden global shocks.

ASEAN renewed its push to ratify the ASEAN Petroleum Security Agreement (APSA). Details on stockpiling and coordination are still being worked out.

Who attended

ASEAN now has 11 members. Cebu was Wong's fifth ASEAN leaders' summit as PM, after Laos and Malaysia.

Bakit relevant sa atin

1. Warm ties. More than 200,000 Filipinos live in Singapore, and leader-level goodwill sets the tone for labour and travel deals.
2. Fuel prices. They feed into PAL, Cebu Pacific, Scoot and SIA fares, box shipping and remittance fees.
3. Scams. Joint action on cross-border scams matters to OFWs, who are frequent targets. Check the Singapore Police Force scam alerts before you pay anyone you met online.
4. No big SG-PH deal this time. Watch fintech, labour mobility and digital trade, including cross-border QR payments and remittance moves such as Singtel Dash's sale to Western Union.

Official statements from the trip sit on the MFA Singapore newsroom.

For the Cebu Protocol, the PH-Vietnam rice deal and the Middle East statement, read our 48th ASEAN Summit wrap-up.