President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly slammed the United States these past few days, starting with expressing “strong comments” against US President Barack Obama, which he later regretted.
During the ASEAN Summit in Laos, he confirmed news reports about him showing a photo of the Moro people killed by Americans to the delegates.
In Indonesia, he thanked China for building a rehabilitation center for drug surrenderees in the Philippines. On the other hand, he hit the US anew by saying that the US only sold the Philippines two FA-50s fighter jets which can only be used for “ceremonial” purposes, according to him. The jets later turned out to be bought from South Korea, not the US. He added that the US “only gives you principles and nothing else.”
But Facebook user Bernard Ong, Duterte is doing all these tirades against the US to “appease” China and supports his observation with the following facts:
“1. The two FA-50 fighters were bought from South Korea not USA. Duterte is misinformed. Or he is deliberately misinforming.
2. In the aftermath of super-typhoon Yolanda, China pledged a total of $2M in aid, dwarfed by furniture-maker Ikea that pledged $2.7M. US initially pledged $20M in aid, but delivered $90.9M. Among the first responders to Tacloban were helicopters of the US military who helped restore operations at the airport to allow aid to flow thru. So much for “principles and nothing else.”
Memebuster note: Amid the marital dispute between the China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, the former initially pledged only $100,000 to help the Yolanda victims, but raised it to $2 million after receiving backlash.
3. ODA (official development aid) grants portfolio of the Philippines stood at $3.19B in 2014. Of this total, 36.1% of grants were from USA. 5.2% by Japan. Only 0.18% by China. USA grants were 200x more than China. Many of the USAID projects are in health, education, community development – the precise interventions into the root causes of drug abuse.
4. Excluded from these ODA are the military assistance which is increasing. USA and Japan are once again the biggest donors.
5. Based on 2015 data, Japan is our biggest merchandise export market at $12.5B. Followed by US at $8.6B. China’s at $7.3B. We have a trade surplus with Japan of $6.5B and US at $0.6B. We have a trade deficit with China of $1.9B.
6. US is our biggest service export market via BPO industry. BPOs are estimated to generate $25B revenues in 2016 ($55B by 2020). 77% of our BPO market is US-bound. That $30B growth in BPO from 2016 to 2020 is greater than any manufacturing or export-led growth possible.
BPO is the sunrise industry for the Philippines where we have clear competitive advantage (language, adaptability, time zone) versus the rest of the world. US is the main market now & in the future.
7. Philippines received $25.8B in remittances in 2015. Biggest contributor was USA at 31.2%. China at around 0.2% only. US remittances are 127x bigger than China.
8. In terms of net foreign direct investments, USA contributed 34% of all FDI in 2011-15. Japan came next at 23.7%. China was far behind at only 0.8%.
9. In 2015, the Philippines earned P227.6B from international tourism. Of this amount, the top visitor was South Korea at 29.2%. Then USA at 18.6%. China was only 4.5%. Not even close.
10. China is a clear top contributor in one aspect. The trade value of illegal drugs in the Philippines was estimated at $8.3B in 2013. 96% of this is shabu, sourced almost exclusively from China.”
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Ong also gave additional observations based on the facts he cited above.
He said that Duterte often resort to “selective nitpicking and twisting of facts” to support whatever he wants to rant about.
Ong added that the United States is the Philippines’ main economic partner and will remain as such in the future. “Our competitive advantage (BPO) fits perfectly with their market. Runner-up is not even China, but Japan,” he said.
If Duterte keeps up with his tirades against the US, Ong said that this might also anger its ally, Japan, which would lead to “economic hara-kiri,” referring to the Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment.
Ong only has grim predictions for what might happen to the Philippines if Duterte continues attacking the US.
“This strategy to attack the West to appease the East is strategically flawed. We will lose more than our shoals. We will lose our main markets,” he said.
But he made one thing clear where China is the top supplier – illegal drugs.
“China leads in only one area – supplying illegal drugs to the country. Whatever donation China makes is dwarfed by the damage caused by its drug syndicates. Materials for drug rehab will be peanuts compared to the billions siphoned off. Duterte should ask for the Chinese to ship him the Triad drug lords, not construction materials,” Ong said.
In July, a Chinese woman with 4.5 kilos of shabu was nabbed at Mactan-Cebu airport. On September 7, P2-million worth of shabu and P4-million worth of equipment were found inside a hog farm used as front for a drug lab operated by seven Chinese nationals.
“Duterte’s gratitude to the Chinese, and hostility to the Americans are clearly misplaced,” he concluded.
Sources: (Bernard Ong Facebook, gmanetwork.com, sunstar.com, theguardian.com, gulfnews.com, globalnation.inquirer.net)
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