THE diehard Duterte supporters (DDS) blame everyone, from the United States for allegedly misleading and abandoning us in the West Philippine Sea, to former president Benigno Aquino 3rd for committing the twin mistake of falling for the US machinations and angering Beijing by filing a case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a case which incidentally we won.

Most people agree that what we got was a convincing win. We provided the opportunity for a recognized international tribunal to finally declare that China’s fictional nine-dash line has no basis, either in history or in international law. Yet, the DDS attacked the ruling as useless, in ways that rivaled and even exceeded China’s intransigence. Instead of focusing on the points that we won, they ranted on our alleged loss of claims over some geological formations, which, under international law, we cannot even claim.

What these people flaunted and defended is the alleged deft pragmatism that President Rodrigo Duterte exhibited when he simply ditched the arbitral ruling in favor of befriending China. They all agreed that the alternative would be war. They all became instant China apologists and Xi Jinping became the embodiment of a blessing. When President Duterte expressed his preference and admiration for China, his loyal political base screeched with vigorous approval. Anyone who criticizes the President’s obsequiousness toward China becomes a convenient target for shaming and trolling.





They all thought that a friendly China would bring in the goods. They rattled on about the series of funding commitments made by Beijing to finance the ambitious infrastructure program of the President as the prize we won for his China pivot. They were all hoping that a friendlier and more subservient Duterte could keep at bay China’s expansionist advance in the West Philippine Sea. And they all suffered a collective battered housewife syndrome every time China made an unwelcome advance harassing our fishermen, and even our Coast Guard and Navy, where they all fall under a state of utter denial, to a point that they even lash out at those who call out China. When a Chinese vessel rammed a Filipino fishing boat and left our fishermen to drown in the open sea and when the President dismissed it as a simple incident, these DDS even had the audacity to blame our fishermen. One pro-Duterte blogger initially even doubted the veracity of the fishermen’s story.

Unfortunately, and contrary to the expectations of the loyal DDS, President Duterte’s pivot toward China did not make it retreat from its infringements on our sovereignty. Evidence clearly shows that Chinese vessels remain in position within our exclusive economic zones, and even inside our territory. And the promised funds to finance the President’s infrastructure programs are not coming as fast as they were promised.

The Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) burgeoned like mushrooms, but they cater more to customers based in mainland China, where gambling is illegal, and employ Chinese mainlanders instead of Filipinos. To the apprehensions expressed by many that this could be another form of invasion, the DDS countered that, in fact, POGOs will bring in capital and tax revenues. To those who expressed alarm that rental spaces are being gobbled up by Chinese tenants, effectively displacing Filipino renters, some DDS defended this as an opportunity for unit owners to earn more, pointing out that this is after all a case of plain market decisions.

But now we see that the promised tax revenues appear to be a mirage. It is now revealed that only a few POGOs are paying their franchise taxes. The Chinese employed are also not paying right income taxes, if at all. We also now learn that the promised capital infusion exists not as clean investments, but may, in fact, be through illicit money laundering schemes. Sen. Richard Gordon revealed that billions of pesos had illegally entered our country from China.

There is even talk that many Chinese mainlanders who work in POGOs are members of the People’s Liberation Army, according to still- raw and unvetted information gathered by Sen. Panfilo Lacson. The hearings conducted by Sen. Ana Theresia Hontiveros exposed the corruption that mars the entry of the Chinese into the country, some of whom are even able to procure, with cooperation from corrupt Filipino bureaucrats, Philippine birth certificates and passports.

And then we now see the spectacle of Chinese-bred criminality finding their places in our streets, seen in the kidnapping and murder of the Chinese perpetrated by their compatriots. Crime has now become one of our prime imports from China.

And through all of these, the loyal DDS never lose a beat in their denial. Instead of taking seriously the exposés made by the senators, they take turns in maligning them and their intentions, dismissing Hontiveros as Yellow and belittling Lacson and Gordon as making their moves to gain attention for their presidential ambitions in 2022. Others blame the problems on the endemic corruption in our bureaucracy that allows for these illegal activities.

Another weapon to diminish any criticism that the loyal DDS use is to deploy the racism card by accusing those who criticize China and the President as guilty of xenophobia.

These people have to be told. When the dust settles, history will not be kind to those who turned a blind eye and failed to call out the President for laying the foundation for all these things to happen. His China pivot has created the context for the entry of Chinese “bads” into our political economy. And the claim that everything is the fault of corrupt officials even exacerbate the President’s culpability as it suggests evidence of his failure to curb corruption, despite his bold claims to eradicate it. And Senator Gordon may be correct in saying many regulators are holding back for fear of offending China and, indirectly, or so they think, the President. And we cannot blame them.