Trump wins

Republican Donald J. Trump, 78, the oldest to seek the US presidency, appears to be winning, and handily, over the Democratic Party’s presidential amateur, Kamala Harris, 60. Trump is leading in the electoral college vote, 267 to Harris’s 214. Only 270 electoral college votes are needed to win the most powerful job in the world.

At this writing, Trump was delivering a victory speech as the incoming 47th president, citing “an incredible movement, the greatest political movement of all time.”

“We are going to help our country heal. We are going to fix our country,” he vowed. “I will not rest until we can deliver a strong, safe and prosperous America, the golden age of America.” “Make America Great Again,” he said as his supporters shouted, “USA! USA! USA!” “America has given us a powerful mandate. Wow,” he gloated. Trump is the first felon set to win the US presidency.

The Republican Party has won the Senate, gaining two seats, to 51 against the Democrats’ 42 so far. The GOP has made early gains to retain House control. If Trump’s win becomes official, the Republican Party will have near complete control of the government.

Is a Trump presidency good for the Philippines? Ultimately, yes. Trump has decided China is an enemy – in trade, in technology, in military rivalry and in geopolitical influence. His vice president-elect, the equally nasty-talking JD Vance, has promised “the greatest economic comeback in American history.” That means business for the Philippines.

To fight Beijing, the US president must employ an ally like the Philippines, the most geopolitically strategic ASEAN country nearest to China (2,983 kms), after Japan (3,045 kms) and South Korea, 2,117 kms, from the Middle Kingdom.

Crucially, the appeal of democracy to many nations is fading. The US, under Trump, fails the grade for being the world’s premier democracy. So much for old Joe Biden’s 2022 Summit for Democracy. After all, you cannot feed hungry people democracy. They want food, at reasonable prices. They want jobs that are stable and pay well. When people are hungry and jobless, you cannot feed them guns. Nor democracy.

A President Trump has vowed to raise tariffs, steeply, on Chinese products. And to block Chinese technology from making inroads into the US techno mainland. This means trade flows will be reordered. The Philippines could benefit from that, with its low-cost, easy to train English-speaking labor, sa huge domestic market (116 million plus and middle class) and Filipinos’ high natural inclination for technical jobs. The Philippines can supply food to the US as Manila modernizes its decrepit agriculture.

Trump will junk what he calls the Green New Scam, Biden’s green policies. This means more fossil fuel – by far, the cheapest source of reliable electricity. About 60 percent of Philippine electricity comes from coal. The US will produce massive amounts of energy, Trump has pledged. That could mean lower oil prices.

The money that Trump will save from abandoning Ukraine, $66.9 billion in 2014 and $64 billion by this year, could probably be tapped as ODA or military assistance for the Philippines where the US effectively has a dozen bases.  “Under our leadership, the US will be respected again. No nation will question our power. No enemy will doubt our might,” Trump said in his nomination speech. Well, sir, help rearm the Philippines.

A President Trump will be nasty, of course. But hey, nastiness sells. Ask the average Americans who have elected him.

Sunfu Solutions Inc. vs. Fujifilm Philippines

Speaking of nastiness, Philippine trade officials should look into the case/s filed by a Filipino company, Sunfu Solutions Inc., a medical solutions provider, against Fujifilm Philippines.

Sunfu Solutions Inc. has filed multiple complaints against officials of Fujifilm Philippines related to misrepresentations of Fujifilm in the issuance of the First Tier authority to sell Fujifilm to the OFW Hospital in 2022.

Before the bidding to provide equipment worth P100 million to the hospital, Fujifilm Philippines certified Sunfu Solutions as its official product distributor. The certification emboldened Sunfu to bid to sell equipment to the OFW Hospital. It was almost a cinch Sunfu would win the bidding.

Then, at a critical moment, when bids were about to be opened, Fujifilm suddenly disowned Sunfu as its authorized distributor by withdrawing its certification.

Aghast, Sunfu sued Fujifilm Philippines officials. In addition to the criminal complaints, Sunfu Solutions secured a hold departure order against certain Fujifilm Philippines officials.

Sunfu also filed a civil case for damages against Fujifilm which transferred its key Philippine official, an expat, to Japan in an attempt to evade the jurisdiction of the Philippine courts. The Japanese company made it appear its executive, a certain Ryo Nagaoka, Fujifilm Philippines’ former president, had resigned. He did not. Nagaoka has been ordered arrested here.

Hold Departure Orders (HDO) have also been issued against two other Fujifilm executives, Evan Reyes and John Paul Camarillo, former Fujifilm Philippines officials. They are facing estafa charges, alleged to have been part of the effort to deceive and to defraud Sunfu.

Additional perjury charges have also been filed before the City Prosecutor’s Office in Pasig against Camarillo.

Time for Fujifilm in Japan to clean up the Philippine office, and maybe the regional Singapore office, before considerable damage is done to its reputation.

It seems more cases against Japanese Fujifilm executives in Singapore, Japan, the Philippines are on the way.

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