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We. the revolution torrent1/8/2023 While welcoming expanded economic cooperation with China, in order to boost post-pandemic recovery, Marcos Jr. He also turned back on his earlier promise to appoint Sara Duterte - former presidential daughter, and current vice-president - as his defence secretary, a position that was given to a veteran general. He appointed a career diplomat - Enrique Manalo - as his foreign secretary, the first in two decades. Urbane and affable, the new Filipino president shunned his predecessor’s colourful language in favour of traditional diplomacy. But once he secured the highest office, largely thanks to the backing of the Dutertes, he began to sing to a different tune. openly backed Duterte’s foreign policy orientation during the presidential campaign. To impress China, the Filipino president repeatedly soft-pedalled on the South China Sea disputes, even going so far as to echo Beijing’s lines on the 2016 arbitral tribunal award, which nullified the bulk of China’s expansive claims in adjacent waters, as well as the 2019 Reed Bank incident, where a suspected Chinese militia vessel drowned a Filipino fishing boat. At the same time, Duterte fawned over Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he described as a his ‘ idol’ and ‘ favourite hero’.ĭuterte courted economic and military aid from both China and Russia, his two strategic patrons, amid rising tensions with the West over human rights and democracy issues. The former Filipino president called on smaller nations to ‘ remain meek and humble’ in exchange for the Asian power’s ‘mercy’. While touting an ‘independent’ foreign policy, Duterte was brazenly obsequious, and at times almost slavish, towards the Eastern powers. Throughout his entire term in office, the former Filipino leader refused to visit even a single Western capital, while conducting multiple tris to both Beijing and Moscow.ĭuterte courted economic and military aid from both China and Russia, his two strategic patrons, amid rising tensions with the West over human rights and democracy issues. Fuelled by historical and personal grievances, Duterte publicly cussed at Western leaders and threatened to end his country’s military alliance with America. The contrast with his immediate predecessor couldn’t be any starker. has steadily repaired frayed ties with the United States through the adoption of a more critical stance towards China and Russia. In a bid to ‘reintroduce’ the Philippines, and rebrand his notorious family’s international image, Marcos Jr. has overseen a strategic reboot, which has won praise among traditional allies and partners. On the foreign policy front, however, Marcos Jr. A break in foreign policy legacyĪt the rate thigs are going, the Philippines will likely end up as a ‘hybrid regime’, where semi-competitive elections simply legitimise the supremacy of an illiberal ruling elite. Nor has his administration shown an appetite for the rule of law, including accountability for widespread extrajudicial killings under his predecessor. To top it all off, during Marcos Jr.‘s major speeches, including his inauguration speech and first State of the Nation Address, he refused to even discuss the topics of human rights, democracy and corruption. The torrent of revisionist politics, powered by an army of pro-Marcos influencers, has coincided with a systematic assault on mainstream media and independent journalists. While the presidential sister, Senator Maria Imelda ‘Imee’ Marcos, oversaw the release of an unabashedly revisionist movie, ‘Maid in Malacañang’, which portrayed her family as hapless victims of pro-Aquino mobs, American conspiracy and treasonous allies. During his first 100 days, the new Filipino president defended his father’s dictatorial legacy by invoking Cold War strategic exigencies and domestic insurgencies. Once back in the Malacañang Palace, the Marcoses didn’t disappoint their loyalist base. After winning an unprecedented 31 million votes, and securing the largest margin of victory in contemporary Philippine elections, the namesake son of the former Filipino strongman was in a unique position to create a new political regime altogether. The 1986 revolution led by Corazon Aquino – the widow of Marcos family’s ultimate bête noire, Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino – established a new constitutional order, which expressly sought to avoid another Marcosian dictatorship. won an emphatic electoral victory almost exactly half-a-century after his father imposed a brutal dictatorship, many expected the new Filipino leader to go against the 1986 ‘People Power’ Revolution. Sometimes things turn out differently than planned.
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