DUTERTE: CHINA’S ALLY

James Esquivel

In response to China’s wrath regarding the accident that occurred in Recto Bay,
Duterte allowed them to fish and abuse the waters of the country- our Exclusive Economic
Zone or EEZ. This resulted to great disapproval among many, some even hoping to
impeach him; which is a must.
First of all, the use of EEZ by other countries normally results to conflict. This is a
prohibited area for other countries and even just using it or entering it is already going
beyond borders. However, Duterte, the head of the country, allowed China to use it
voluntarily. He violated country’s constitution, he neglected our rights and he failed to
protect what’s rightfully ours. He is not the President that this country needs. We need
new.
Allowing Chinese to enter and fish in our territory was perhaps a way for him to
settle the dispute between China and our country. However, the foreseeable future for
Filipinos are really frightening. For one thing, our economy would deplete greatly. Fish,
for example, is a commodity of ours. The use of China’s big ship for fishing result to more
capture than our fishermen who only uses dinghys and small boats. Next is the possibility
that they may place oil drills there for their country and economy. They are snatching our
jobs; they are snatching our lives.
President Rodrigo is adamant in insisting the war waging of China which is
impossible. China will not wage war because of the 3 Warfare Strategy China and the
fact that United States will intervene if this happens. It was promised that US will defend
us, especially that China and US are in form of cold warfare with each other. With this,
we can see that Duterte has lack of knowledge in terms of international and country’s law
and he often carelessly say things.
The main reason why China is acting with so much power over the country’s
territory is that Duterte is openly showing how incompetent he is in claiming and fighting
over Philippines’ right.
The question is why is it Duterte is so strong against Canada and Korea but weak
against China? It is because there’s no significant contribution of Canada and Korea in
the Philippines. But when we talk about China, they continued to be one of the Philippines’
top trading partners. They have many contributions in the country such as riffle donations
for the Philippine Army, some infrastructure projects like train in Mindanao and a bridge
on the Pasig river, cheap merchandise and allowing Filipino fishermen to fish in the
Panatag Shoal or Huangyan Island. Moreover, Filipino billionaires are mostly Chinese-
Filipino. With these, Duterte perhaps felt in debt with them and making China as rival of
the country will cut one of the foot of the country. Maybe, he thinks that it will be hard for
Philippines to stand without the help of China. Herein, we can say that he sacrificed a part
of the Philippines in exchange for peace and friendship which is not right. When Chinese
entered our country, they took those possible jobs and replaced Filipinos laborers and got
a position in politics. When they donated, it was voluntary, even though it is a great help,
the fact that we didn’t beg for it doesn’t account us in any debts. If Duterte felt in debt, he
should pay himself, leave the Philippines alone. Since Duterte mentioned the friendship
between Philippines and China, when Chinese vessel hit Philippine boat, it just showed
that the friendship is one sided for China disrespected Filipinos in our own territory. An
incompetent and weak leader would lead us nowhere.
His incompetence is a result of incapableness and lack of knowledge in leading a
large group of people. Being a mayor then president, you need a great coping up and he
failed. He’s bold but isn’t wise. He’s not capable of fighting for our beloved country, we
need new, we need to change president as soon as possible. We can’t afford to lose
everything we have.

I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.
Alexander the Great

References
Rivas, Ralf. (2018, November). Don’t Credit China for Philippine Growth
Just Yet. Rappler. July 12, 2019.
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/217047-charts-philippines-
china-economic-ties-relationship
Ranada, Pia. (2019, April). Duterte: ‘Compromise’ needed to deal with
Chinese ships near Pag-asa. Rappler. July 13, 2019.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/227447-duterte-compromise-
needed-chinese-ships-pag-asa-island
Ranada, Pia. (2019, June). Recto Bank incident taints Duterte’s nationalist
image. Rappler. July 12, 2019.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/234113-recto-bank-incident-taints-
duterte-nationalist-image-analyst