Posted on 05/10/2022 4:11:41 AM PDT by FarCenter
In a stunning landslide victory, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr won the Philippines’ presidential election, bringing him to the frontlines of US-China confrontations in the South China Sea amid early rumblings that he is Beijing’s puppet “Manchurian candidate.”
Marcos Jr’s election advantage was that he is the son of his “idol,” the somewhat popular, late US-backed dictatorial president Ferdinand Marcos Sr and his flamboyant wife Imelda, who is now 92.
...
Marcos Jr, convicted of tax evasion in 1997, faces multi-million dollar tax cases in the Philippines and the US over his father’s vast estate.
China, meanwhile, denies it has any improper influence over Marcos Jr. The test will come if China again enforces what Beijing claims as its territorial waters in the South China Sea, which splash western beaches on many of the Philippines’ islands.
During Duterte’s administration, the two countries experienced cozy but spat-splattered relations while Beijing constructed strategic facilities in the disputed waters and confronted the Philippines’ ships.
...
China’s trade with the Philippines dates back to the 9th century. Today, the Philippines’ economy cannot run without China’s money.
“China remains the largest trading partner, the largest source of imports [into the Philippines], the third-largest export market, and the second-largest foreign investors in the Philippines,” the ambassador said.
(Excerpt) Read more at asiatimes.com ...
Oh, Great.
Is his wife into shoes?…
By the time the Philippines won the court case the islands had been built and weaponized, so china just ignored the court.
Duterte tried to make nice with China, but China cheated on the deals, so he has been seeking military equipment from Japan and other non US sources.
Marcos will probably do the same.
Marcos opponent was funded and supported by the usual sources, and was considered a US puppet. Marcos was popular with our workers here...people who were leftist in the old fashioned way, opposing rich folks who run the country and steal everything in sight.
The MSM shouts human rights but folks want safe streets and jobs, and they think Marcos can continue Dutertes policies.
As for corruption. My husband would tell me they are all crooks.
Philippines, like every other former Spanish or Portuguese colony, have suffered for centuries under the 4-C incestuous curses of Catholicism, Communism, Corruption, and Crime -- non-stop poverty, single motherhood, trafficking of humans and drugs, and myriad other societal poisons.
Ironically, all of those former colonies are wealthy in natural resources, and could provide first-world societies for their citizens, without the 4-C oppressions.
The promise of this political movement is allow that prosperity to happen -- for the people.
China supplies a lot of stuff that 20 years ago was hard to find here. A major trading partner.
But although people don’t want to obey the U S, they do like and trust Americans. But they hate the Chinese.
The Chinese business community backed Marcos, but they are not the same as the Chinese government...the Chinese diaspora has run the economy in SE Asia for over 100 years, but unlike other countries, the law prevented them from owning land or businesses so they married local gals and now their families run the economy.
Thank you for the local viewpoint. Always good to get info from people who actually know something.
As for corruption. My husband would tell me they are all crooks.
Sounds like parts of America.
“As for corruption. My husband would tell me they are all crooks.”
We know they all steal. It’s just when it gets too outrageous and in-your-face that people get upset.
The North/South part is a real plus.
Luzon and Mindanao need to be more unified.
Good info. I can now talk intelligently to my Filipino wife about what’s going on in her country.
Catholics. A lot of births in the last couple of decades. Spread out country of 100 million. Their only way out is immigration to the US.
Single mothers are rare but there are a lot of common law relationships. You probably think the bar girls of Subic are the norm...they are not.
Corruption and clans and rich families similar to feudalism in medieval Europe predates Spain and Catholicism and are similar to most third world countries in Asia that are Buddhist or Muslim or Hindu.
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