‘Unrequited love’

The issue of the confrontation between the Philippines and China in the West Philippine Sea is one that affects the life of every Filipino. While I do not believe that this could lead to an armed conflict between the two nations, there is the potential for an accidental conflagration.

The book “Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace” is written by two of the Philippines’ most accomplished journalists, Marites Dañguilan Vitug and Camille Elemia. Vitug is currently editor at large at Rappler, the online publication that was once headed by Nobel Prize laureate Maria Ressa. Elemia is an investigative reporter who is currently a contributor for the New York Times, Radio Free Asia and was formerly with Rappler and CNN Philippines.

It is definitely the most comprehensive story of how and why former president Rodrigo Duterte caused a radical change in Philippine policy that led this country to switch from its traditional allies like the United States and aligned itself with China and Russia. I have personally been a close follower of the events unfolding regarding Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea. I have read several books written by Filipino and foreign authors on this geopolitical crisis. I have even written a few columns on this vital issue.

However, even I was able to learn new information and thought-provoking insights from this book. Although this book was just recently published, it has yet to be publicly launched by the Ateneo de Manila University Press on July 18.

I was fortunate to read an advance copy. The book is organized in six parts, which Vitug briefly describes in the Preface. Part 1 is “From Davao to Malacañang.” It focuses on the years of Duterte during his time as mayor of Davao City. More important, it traces the roots of Duterte’s hatred towards the United States. It is so surprising and even frightening that this hatred is the result of personal gripes and was the cause of a drastic change in the country’s foreign policy and resulted in a seismic geopolitical change in the Indo-Pacific region. It seems that Duterte’s tourist visa application to the US was once rejected. Because of that, Duterte missed the birth of his youngest child Veronica, with partner Honeylet Avanceña, who was then working as a nurse in America.

The book’s authors wrote: “There were talks that he was denied a visa due to human rights violations in Davao City where he first began his brutal drug war.” This part also traces how Duterte’s friendly ties with Chinese Filipinos began when he entered politics.

The second part is “Breaking the Law,” which details how officials close to Duterte bent the rules and played favorites. His soft spot for China was shown in the early days of the pandemic when he decided not to close the borders to and from China, where COVID-19 first emerged.

This part also contains the stories of secret vaccinations and scandals resulting from the pandemic.

Part 3 is “Show of Support,” which tracks down the infrastructure projects funded by China. According to the authors: “Only a fraction of China’s high profile pledges came to fruition.” There are detailed stories of projects that China assured loans for, but failed to deliver.

Among the controversial projects was DITO Telecommunity, which was granted a franchise by the Philippine Congress in 2021. This project allowed the Chinese company to build cell sites in military camps in the country.

Former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio wrote that since the Philippine military was tasked to resist China’s aggression, China would want to eavesdrop on Philippine military communications.

Another example of a Chinese project was a drug rehabilitation project in Nueva Ecija which was supposed to accommodate 10,000 drug dependents for treatment and rehabilitation. However, when the authors visited in July 2022, the center had only a 225-bed capacity. There were other controversial Chinese projects the authors wrote about in Part 4, “Unfulfilled Promises.” This included the Mindanao Railway; the railway connecting Metro Manila and Bicol and the Subic-Clark Railway.

Part 5 “Flash Points” discusses the sources of strained relations between Manila and Beijing which continue to this day. One example is that Manila and Beijing had agreed that there would be no construction or occupation of Sandy Cay. Although this was not a written agreement, it was a verbal agreement between Chinese and Filipino DFA officials.

Part 6 “The Pushback” relates how Filipino institutions, bureaucracies and leaders rose to the occasion and stood up against China and were able to partially foil Duterte’s attempt to push the country towards China. Two Cabinet members, Teodoro Locsin Jr. of DFA and Delfin Lorenzana of the Department of National Defense, according to the authors: “… shone in their moments of resistance, showing that Duterte’s avowed love for China was nontransferable to his officials and the government agencies they led… In the end, Duterte failed to rally the country towards China.”

There is an Epilogue, “Sea Change,” which narrates how the new president Bongbong Marcos completely changed Duterte’s attempts to transform the Philippines into a Russian and Chinese ally.

I hope that the authors expand this chapter into another book.

This is a highly readable book which reveals amazing information and insights that were new to me. This is a must read for all Filipinos who need to know how our country almost became a vassal of China.

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