Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China embrace

“It was the early 2000s. A man, appearing to be in his mid-fifties with dark hair and brown skin, arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport from a business trip to Brazil. The city of Los Angeles was meant to be a brief stop, as he was set to fly home to the Philippines. He walked past customs check and just as he was about to step out of the airport, a tall African-American officer approached him.

“‘May I see your passport?’ the officer asked the man. Seeing that the man was carrying an official passport, the officer further probed. ‘Where is your letter of authority to travel? Why is it not here?’

“The man explained he was a politician back home, a congressman, but to no avail. He was then brought to an interrogation room. Exasperated and enraged, he shot back, ‘If you detain me any further and if there’s a plane available, I’d be happy to go home.’ It was the last time he would ever set foot in the United States.

“Not too long after, in 2002, this man, Rodrigo Duterte, would become mayor of his hometown Davao City, a coastal city with over 1.6 million residents on the southern island of Mindanao. It was a position he previously held for over a decade. Davao is the largest city in the country by land area.”

This is the beginning of Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace, a book by journalists Marites Dañguilan Vitug and Camille Elemia.

It is a gripping investigative reportage on Rody Duterte’s animosity toward the US, the roots of his affection for China and its implications.

The title captures it well; it is about a lovestruck politico from Davao and how his unrequited love for China turned the Philippines into an even more hilarious banana republic than it already was.

“Our book is about the story of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s pivot to China, the factors that influenced him, the results of the policy shift on the West Philippine Sea, the rule of law, Chinese loans, grants and pledges for infrastructure and other projects, attempts to influence the military, the political parties, Philippine media and the public, and how various institutions responded. Drawing on archival research and field interviews, the story begins with the roots of Duterte’s affection for China and leads to the maritime features that are major sources of tension between Manila and Beijing, as well as the pushback by key government institutions,” Camille explains in an email interview.

Both Marites and Camille, incidentally, are my sorority sisters in the Delta Lambda Sigma Sorority at UP. And in Camille’s case, she is also a fellow We-Mover or the Movement for the Welfare and Safety of Women Journalists, an advocacy group put together by journalist Luz Rimban to help protect women journalists.

The book, published by Ateneo University Press, was launched last July, attended by no less than retired associate justice Antonio Carpio.

I saw photos from the launch in one of our sorority’s Viber groups. I missed it due to a conflict in my schedule, but after reading it, I am not surprised the book is a success.

Secret vaccinations

I was especially interested in the “Secret Vaccinations” chapter because it provided details on rumors I had heard at the time, long before news broke that the Presidential Security Group, along with some government officials, received the Sinopharm vaccine.

This chapter provides more context about that dark period in the country.

As I wrote in a previous column about the pandemic: “Some pages seemed straight out of a Filipino version of Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, as some billionaires went panic-buying for midnight snacks and bottles of rosé while the less fortunate couldn’t even afford to panic. Yes, being able to panic is a privilege in these trying times, especially when it comes to accessing a virus test kit.”

Indeed, amid the dire situation, as the authors pointed out in the book, the president’s guards and some close associates received favored treatment.

There is much more to read and learn about Duterte in this well-researched investigative work.

I asked Camille why she chose to write this story. Here’s what she shared:

“Firstly, it is an honor to co-author a book with one of the most respected journalists in the country. Secondly, I have been monitoring Chinese influence efforts since 2018 or 2019, and I felt the book was an opportunity to lay out the issue in all its nuances. Additionally, what I liked about the book concept is that it was not just about the West Philippine Sea; it looked into foreign policy, society, media, politics and business.”

In all, Camille said, they decided to write the book in the simplest way possible so that Filipinos could understand such complex issues. “We want Filipinos to find foreign policy interesting; that it’s not only the president who shapes it, and that it’s a subject we should care about, especially during elections, because it has a direct impact on us.”

I couldn’t agree more. The book is a must-read for those who want to understand a lot of what happened to the Philippines during the Duterte administration.

I chose to write about the book now, as Duterte is again making headlines, proud and unapologetic about his bloody war on drugs. Read Unrequited Love and be reminded of who Rody Duterte truly is.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.