THE PHILIPPINES’ FORUM FOR INTERNATIONAL READERS SINCE 1981
November 6-26, 2016 Vol. XXXV No. 1
STILL IN STORES
www.expatphilippines.ph
Newspaper
President Rodrigo Duterte proposing a toast during a state banquet in Vietnam. As a friendly gesture towards the Southeast Asian neighbor, Duterte recently released 17 Vietnamese poachers. The fishermen were caught off the waters of Ilocos Sur. Photo courtesy of ROBINSON NIÑAL / PCOO
Name that tune
Cebu named 5th best island in the world
How will the President’s rhetoric absent of policies ultimately affect the Philippines? By TIMOTHY JAY IBAY
B
oth sides of the divide will have their own opinions and supporting arguments for the bold pronouncements of President Rodrigo Duterte. But whether you question how the President’s anti-American rhetoric will affect the Information Technology and Business Process Management industry (which in 2015 generated US$22 billion in revenues, and is trending to overtake Overseas Filipino Workers’ total remittances by 2017), or you welcome the foreign policy shift to open opportunities to and from other markets—there is little doubt that Duterte has managed to get everyone’s attention. Now, whether his brash assertions can lead to mutually beneficial international relations, and perhaps more importantly, actual policies beneficial to the country is a different matter altogether.
Rebalancing relations Asian geopolitical and economic affairs specialist Richard Javad Heydarian recently pointed out in an Aljazeera.com article that while Duterte has rarely missed an opportunity to unleash invectives at the US – placing Washington under the spotlight in the process – a subtle analysis “reveals that what Duterte seeks is not decoupling from the West, and jumping into China’s embrace, but instead creating a healthy balance in Philippine foreign relations.” This was similar to Malacanang’s translation of Duterte’s declaration of “separation” from the US, with Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella saying that what the President said was a “restatement of his position on charting an independent foreign policy,” while adding in a statement that the President
wants to reduce the country’s dependence on the West, and rebalance economic and military relations with its neighbors. “So far, the strategy seems to be working. In fact, instead of estranging the West, Duterte seems to have caught their attention like never before,” Heydarian added, while pointing out that amidst the countless tirades, the US has dispatched a number of high-level diplomats (Kirstie Kenney, Sec. John Kerry and incoming US envoy Sung Kim)—a sign of the US’ growing concern of foreign policy redirection towards China. Question of policy This possibility is echoed by Malcolm Davis of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, who in an interview with page 3 The Feed, said that in Duterte’s
Mactan Airport places 14th By RICHARD RAMOS
T
he international accolades get bigger and wider in scope as Cebu continues to outdo itself, placing fifth among the world’s best islands, while the Mactan-Cebu international Airport (MCIA) copped 14th place on the global front as well. Respondents from the 2016 Readers Choice’ Awards Survey of the prestigious Conde Nast Traveler magazine termed Cebu as “the most densely populated island in the Philippines… famous for its beaches on the mainland as well as across many of the surrounding islands.” Other comments describe Cebu as “not as wild as Phuket in Thailand, Cebu is more personal with plenty of up-and-coming restaurants and shopping.” Cebu’s fifth place ranking marks an alltime high as the island province has been a perennial Top 10 placer for page 3 the past several years, with the